A Nightmare to behold
by TheRussianSeahawk
Summary: In the face of pain, there are no heroes, in the face of death, there are no martyrs. House is whisked into a world unlike his, how will he cope and the how will he survive the torture in the Ministry of Love?


_This story is merely of my overactive imagination, I don't own any of the characters or their motives_

The day was a normal day like any other yet unlike any other day because of what happened. What happened was subject to debate by many prestigious scientists and professors from around the world. The whole entire team was in shock and in horror at what happened, Dr. Cuddy was sobbing and screaming and pointing wildly at a mirror surrounded by machinery of allsorts and there were whiteboards scrawled with formulas too complex for any of the doctors to understand despite their high amount of mathematical knowledge. James Wilson was hyperventilating and in horror as tears streamed down his face, sobbing uncontrollably on the shoulders of Foreman the only person who seemed to be unfazed by the incident but shaken to the core at what had happened before their very eyes, Taub's eyes were wide with shock as he took in the scene that happened just seconds before. Cameron was screaming "NOOOOOOO it can't be true, IT CANNOT BE TRUEEE, he can't BE GONE THROUGH A TIME MACHINE". Chase ran into the differential room only to see the whole team minus House and that insane scientist who claimed to have invented time travel and interdimensional travel. "Where is House, and where's Anastasia?" he yelled only to be greeted by stunned silence. Foreman explained what happened saying "House and Anastasia have accidentally activated the machine and it sucked them both through time and space, we can only hope they survive the travel and return to us."

Through time and space I traveled blindly using my lowest and highest instincts, floating through time and space I could hear the incessant buzzing of voices from people of different places, cultures, nations, and eras and just as it had begun, it had ended with me being dropped through a wormhole into a metropolis of some sort and soon I lost consciousness. I woke up with a start and stared at the surroundings which seemed to be either very slum like or just neglected in general and suddenly a bright red poster caught my eye as it blared the words "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU" I grunted and sat up and remembered to be gentle on my leg as it never ceased to remind me how much it hated me as I eyed the man on the poster as it looked like he wanted to shoot lasers at me and enjoy my pain. Speaking of which I reflexively reached towards my jacket pocket and reached for a bottle of medicine and swallowed a couple of pills and realized I was in an alleyway and I eyed my cane and leaned on it and began to walk towards the end of the alley which led to a large square where there were large television screens with the same man's face, the so called big brother on all of them surrounding an obelisk shaped monument dedicated to big brother and his victory against capitalism during the Atomic War, there were red banners hanging everywhere, there were also buildings topped with glass pyramids with stone carved logos of Igsnoc on their peaks, I even saw a poster that practically screamed "WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH." There were few people milling about the few that were either policemen that were armed as heavily as if they were military men, meanwhile there some homeless people living in boxes in a corner yet avoiding the guards. There were posters everywhere I noticed one said "Report thoughtcrime to thoughtpolice nearest you" and there were flagpoles arranged in a circular formation around the monument, the flags fluttered on their respective poles, the flags were bright red just like the posters except there was an emblem that the flags shared, the inscriptions on the flags read "Igsnoc" and the logo had two hands clasping each other. 'Hmmm this must be a communist society then' I thought. Soon I walked over to a drunken looking man who muttered something like "I need a ten… a five will do" as I reached to give him my money he burst out "This…is….not….money" suddenly a thought hit me as I realized that U.S dollars would not be accepted here, I wondered if America even existed in this time or dimension and suddenly he slurred "I want real money not fake money" and then he stumbled off singing "Oceania Tis of thee" off-key and off-note and suddenly vomiting all over himself and he suddenly passed out. Nobody bothered to help him, not even the policemen and soon I realized something all too soon-Every man for himself. I shouted for help but the police were slow to react but soon a young officer, I assumed he was a rookie because he tentatively walked over and murmured for something like a medved and I waited impatiently for the vehicle arrive and once it arrived I realized this was an ambulance for the authorities in charge of this place but it apparently seemed that he pulled some strings to get this man help. I knew this drunken idiot need help and fast so I quickly helped the EMT's even though they grudgingly accepted it. Soon I walked over to a woman to seemed sober enough to stand on her two feet so I spoke to her or rather she addressed me as "Comrade what brings you here to Victory Square." I knew I had to be careful not to agitate her or the policemen so I tried to explain that a vortex brought me here but she interrupted by saying "Welcome to Oceania where big brother leads us, this the city of London." Soon I realized with a horror that I was not in the United States or anywhere near it in fact. Soon I was told "This the year of 1984" by a young girl who appeared to be malnourished and had rickets and probably even scurvy. I realized that this was going to be probably make my Top Ten Worst Days of My Life. I knew I had limited time left to escape from Oceania if I was to succeed in returning to my dimension but a huge question hung on my head, where was Anastasia?

Meanwhile in Princeton, New Jersey.

The team had a thousand questions and zero answers as to how a mentally ill patient who suffers from schizophrenia and a world famous doctor who was a double specialist in Nephrology and infectious disease could travel through time. Whether or not those two could ever return was another question that seemed to be on Wilson's mind. Foreman was wondering how could have this all happened in the first place, he was hoping that this was all an elaborate prank, hoping and waiting for days on end for House to appear and launch into a tirade of how he fooled them all, but House never re appeared. Soon there was a strange humming from the Ersed mirror and the computer soon started to shake wildly in midair much to the shock of the team and as soon as it started, the shaking stopped and the laptop dropped back into its place and the printer next to the laptop started printing pages and pages of numbers and formulas none could understand except the disgraced genius herself and she was already traveling through time as well. Cuddy held out hope that somewhere, someone would be able to decipher the codes and bring back the time traveling duo by calling in scientists and mathematicians from around the world even Stephen Hawking tried to crack the formula and failed and that was when they realized that Anastasia was a genius greater than even Albert Einstein and that she made the world's greatest geniuses seem like 1st graders in comparison despite her hearing voices and being an anti-social mentally ill genius. Cuddy was concerned about House and thought about when his Vicodin would run out and he would begin to suffer in epic proportions. Wilson was especially scared if his friend had dropped into a war zone because in that case House was good as dead because he wouldn't be able to escape in time, suddenly images of House's dying body materialized in his mind and he tried to shake them out but tears began to spill out of the corners of his eyes, soon Wilson wasn't able to control his sobbing as he thought of House. One of Wilson's patients noticed this and placed his hand on Wilson's shoulder as he cried and said "I'm Jake Hepburn and I'm truly sorry about what happened." Wilson realized and said "I shouldn't be crying in front of a twenty year old man" Jake replied "No it's all right, it's okay to cry once in a while, besides its not healthy to keep things in anyway" Wilson smiled sadly "I hope things are okay on House's end" he murmured. He wanted things to be okay but his mind kept leading him to the argument they had earlier.

Meanwhile in Oceania, London.

As I took in the large Victory Square, I spotted a giant sign that said "Unpax pax, Unslave slave, Uncare care" I was confused about what that meant and I asked an elderly lady what that meant, she replied that the banner read "War is peace, Freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength" I realized that this society was built on War, ignorance, and submission to the dictator. Soon a giant steam whistle blew large clouds of steam alerting me to large crowds leaving several buildings surrounding the monument, the workers were all dressed in worn down blue overalls as if they were uniforms, I noticed that they were chatting and murmuring quietly and gathering before a television and soon I realized from a poster that the "Two minutes hate" was going to begin shortly. Soon chairs were brought in and the thrumming pain that never stopped began to remind me to take my medicine, as I swallowed them down, I found a disused chair to sit on though nobody else was sitting on their chairs and soon I thought 'was I supposed to stand up?' then an image showed up on the screen, the commentary read the following "This man is a man accused of insulting big brother, spreading lies and insults about big brother's people and the honorable sons and daughters waging a ferocious war against East Asia, this is a man who promotes capitalism, freedoms, and open speech" it must have been the image of a public enemy because the boos and the hissing and the cussing suddenly began and images of troops marching across sand dunes soon to be replaced by similar images which generated even louder boos and cussing and suddenly behind me was a young woman who shouted "You filthy pig, die you filthy pig" and suddenly hurled a book of some sort at the screen and I couldn't help but start booing and cussing at the screen as well and people began throwing objects like chairs and books and tools at the screen. Even as booing and cussing reached a peak level, the commentary continued as it listed the crimes the criminal had committed. At this rate I was surprised this Two Minutes Hate didn't turn into a riot of epic proportions, the crowds were massive and I was surprised how the people were restraining themselves from rebelling though part of the answer lay with the Thought Police as I was informed they were called. Suddenly the image of the troopers mowing down women and babies shifted to the image of a solider heavily armed to the teeth and ready to kill and slaughter and blow up human beings, the image was so disturbing and so horrendous I threw my chair at the screen and shouted obscenities like no one did that day but nobody seemed to mind me one single bit as the roar of boos seemed to drown out the pleading voice of the public enemy. The whole entire Two Minutes Hate took only two minutes and then suddenly the image of big brother appeared and all fell quiet before him as if he were a deity and people began to chant "Long live big brother, all hail his greatness" and I began chant along as well and suddenly the anthem of Oceania boomed over the speakers and people began to sing the lyrics as if they were like the gospel or some holy song and then the image of big brother faded and then the bold red words appeared on the screen "War is Peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength" and soon people murmured "Big brother" as if it were a prayer and soon many fell down on their knees and wept quietly as if they tried to seek forgiveness for their sins. Afterwards the cleaning crews started cleaning up the mess the crowds had created by their anger and fury. The crowds dissipated and returned to their homes or their businesses or whatever they were doing when the Two Minutes Hate began. I felt truly lost and alone and alien even though I was in the midst of a crowd. I wished I were home driving Wilson nuts over who got TV privileges and I wondered what was going on back home. I wanted to talk to Wilson and apologize to him for the argument we had earlier.

Flashback to 8 hours earlier.

I approached Wilson trying to convince him into listening to me because this was the only way to prove whether time travel existed or not.

Wilson: "You need to listen to me, it is too risky, and you are going to kill yourself if you try time traveling."

I reminded him "Nothing ventured nothing gained."

Wilson: "Nobody and I mean NOBODY has ever proven that time travel even exists much less undergone it!"

Well I replied with a hint of sarcasm "Well there is always a first time for everything isn't there?"

Wilson replied tersely "I can't afford to lose you, not especially like that."

I couldn't have cared less when he told me that but at that moment the Ersed mirror decided to activate and a giant black portal opened and suddenly it began to suck Anastasia in the mirror as she screamed "HOLD ON!" and like that she was gone and soon I lost my grip on the column and went in. It only took a couple minutes maybe even less, and like that I was marooned in a dystopian society where people lived in fear of big brother.

End Flashback.

Soon darkness fell and I realized it was time to find shelter for the night even if it meant sleeping rough out under the stars, not that there were any because of light pollution and afterwards the air became rapidly chilly and I spotted an abandoned looking building that looked like it should be condemned but I didn't care because I needed to sleep somewhere. I broke down the boards and entered inside, graffiti stains, cobwebs, dirt, ripped up tiles greeted me while the walls were blood stained and bullet-ridden as if a family had once lived here but got murdered in cold blood, the smell was murderous to probably even those who couldn't smell because I began to gag and my eyes began to water, I barely managed to stop myself from vomiting all over the bare floor inlaid with nails indicating that the carpet was ripped up at some point after the building was abandoned and soon I found a toilet that was clogged and a bathtub filled with murky black water so I went out of the building and found a market selling food but when I entered, the shelves were empty and there was a bored looking attendant poring over a War and Peace magazine, I asked "Do you have any food?" then the cashier gestured as if to say 'look around, do you see any food?', then he said "Sorry we have no food, we are waiting for the next shipment from the Ministry of Plenty." I was hungry so I asked "When are you going to get your next shipment" the cashier coldly drawled "Never". When I returned to my "home" I found a rat infested bed that nobody in their right mind would sleep in so I laid out some tarp that I found in the half destroyed balcony and laid on it and tried to sleep but my mind kept on reminding me that I willingly took the risk and thus the blame was on me and I was probably right in only one aspect: "There is always a first time for everything" but my mind kept drifting to the team and how were they handling my cases now that I was gone and soon I fell asleep. I bolted awake with a start and realized it was my pain, my alarm clock that woke me up and I carefully placed my feet on the floor careful not to aggravate the pain or to step on a nail and within a few minutes I left my improvised shelter and turned towards the maze-like slums and searched for the nearest bar for a stiff drink and a bite to eat, after twenty five minutes of searching, I found a bar called "Victory Bar", when I entered, the reeking vomit, alcohol, sweat and the general heyday from the crowd hit me on instant and soon everyone's eyes were turned round to meet mine and soon I realized I was the only one who had a cane in hand, the others were strong men watching televisions with soccer games amid the military march music booming in the surround sound speakers, there was also a prominent haze of smoke above the patron's heads as they drank and ate and chatted and smoked there were even men fighting and shouting in the casino hall and a man shouted "What are you looking at?!" and began to punch the offending person while another man picked up a chair and threw it at another person. Drunk people stumbled everywhere as if they could not recognize where they were. In other words, it was general mayhem and chaos especially with the brawling men, quickly soldiers began to drag away the offenders and began to beat _both_ of them. There was a large bar in the back with the barkeeper expertly managing the drinks and wielding the bottles on the countertop with practiced movements and soon I noticed a television screen with big brother's face on the screen, it seemed that wherever I went, big brother was there to see it all and to hear it all. I was truly afraid of the thought and tried to shake it out by asking for some bourbon but then suddenly the barkeep suddenly roared in laughter and shouted "Well look here boys, a newcomer has come into town, HA!" and soon the entire bar was bursting with laughter and guffaws and some even slapped their knees in a gesture perhaps meant to offend me. I was unfazed and I asked "Then what DO you have then" the barkeeper replied "We only have had Victory Gin since the ending of the Atomic War you dummy" then I replied "Some Victory Gin please" the barkeeper slid the bottle of victory drink which was the size of at least two liters and I immediately began to down the drink and when I turned to leave, the barkeeper barked out "Hey newcomer, pay for your drink, will you?" at that moment either it was that utter anger or the simple drunkenness that caused my tongue to slip at the worst possible moment with telescreens around us and the hidden microphones and the plainclothes police and a culture of informants, but it happened because of me and soon before I knew it I was being manhandled into a police van with telescreens there as well and my hunger had been somewhat silenced when I ate mouthfuls of bread while resisting arrest but my futile attempts to escape had left me battered and exhausted as they had beaten me with their truncheons while they dragged me out of the bar with an entire crowd jeering and booing or just simply gawking at the scene that had erupted at the bar and stuffed me into a van filled with prisoners, the ride was bumpy and rough and dangerous and soon I realized the van was stopping and heavily armed policemen with black uniforms began to drag out the other prisoners one by one and manhandling them into cell blocks where they were shackled. Soon it was my turn to be dragged out and locked into a cell block where there were large shackles placed on my wrists, ankles, throat, waist and knees with other terrified prisoners who were obviously shaken by their experiences, suddenly one prisoner spoke "What are you in for comrade?" I replied "I dined and dashed and then committed thoughtcrime", the man shrank from me as if I were a contagious disease. I wanted this all to be a nightmare a nightmare that I would wake up from, but this wasn't true, this was a nightmare that I would never wake up from.

Meanwhile in Princeton, New Jersey.

Foreman was worried, extremely worried that Gregory House would never return to them, he was worried that House was dead somewhere in the middle of nowhere or that he had been kidnapped, awaiting his ransom, never to arrive to save House. Wilson was praying daily especially when he never prayed unless it was a religious occasion, even differential meetings weren't the same without House now that he was AWOL somewhere in time and space, and Cuddy had named Foreman head of diagnostics until House returned from his time traveling trip, though Foreman was doing a decent job of filling in for House as a diagnostic and clinic doctor, Foreman was fearful of especially making mistakes with the double burden of leading a team and being a neurologist and the stress of being a double leader was beginning to show on his face, wrinkles lined his eyes, and dark circles became more prominent under his eyes, his voice began to show signs of exhaustion and overwork and his shoulders drooped as if to admit defeat and his eyes no longer had an intelligent glint but rather shone of exhaustion, his back was more hunched over, and he was rapidly losing weight. Even Wilson noticed this and when he asked how he was doing, Foreman sighed and replied "Terrible". Cuddy was beginning to lose hope on the return of House and cried whenever she heard his name spoken by the nurses or the doctors in hopes and prayers that somewhere House was still alive.

Meanwhile in London, Oceania

The guards took me to a detention room where they shackled me down and slammed the door shut behind them with a bang with other prisoners who awaited their fate while their cases were being processed on which punishment they deserved the most. Guards occasionally came and read their verdicts to the respective prisoner, the majority were sentenced to Room 101 which triggered responses of fear, such was the case of a man who begged them to change his sentence but they dragged him out while the warden coldly repeated "Room 101" as his screams rapidly faded down the hallway, more prisoners were brought in and taken out, there was a woman's verdict which was Room 101 and she began to turn a deeper shade of green that I had never seen anyone turn into and when she was dragged out, she screamed and flailed and vomited but within minutes she was gone, but no one spoke out of fear during my hours in the dark, dank room and suddenly a man flanked by two muscle bound men coolly stared me down before the man in the center broke the heavy silence that was in the room, the man in the center reminded me of Michael Tritter with his stony, remorseless hazel eyes and his slicked-back black hair reminded me of the many dictators from our horrendous past that I did not want to relive. The man was deathly pale as if he hadn't seen the sun in decades, his face was wreathed with wrinkles and exhaustion and sleep deprivation. His ID badge read "David O'Brien", his black uniform was well kempt and his boots were polished to a high shine, he was a lean muscular man but not too muscular unlike his fellow peers, he looked like he had enjoyed a picnic with the screams of the prisoners as his soundtrack while enjoying it. Soon he ordered me to be taken into an interrogation room where the walls were painted white, and there was a small bench near the corner of the room undoubtedly bolted down to keep prisoners from defending themselves. Soon O'Brien spoke "Do you know why you have been brought here?"

I was silent but something gave me away at that moment because he the then calmly said "Soften him up for me boys." And then he walked out and that was when the beatings began. They rained their fists on me but then they started varying their beatings sometimes with steel rods, sometimes with truncheons, sometimes with their boots, sometimes with their fists, sometimes with whips, and all the while I tried to roll around and dodge and stop the pain but it still kept coming and coming, the shrieks and the moans and the cries of pain resonated loudly against the bare walls but nobody seemed to care whether I was dying from the pain or from the injures, and all the more I couldn't stop myself from begging them to stop but they didn't hear or they chose to tune me out as I began to scream false confessions of all sorts ranging from murder of high officials to the embezzlement of public funds and everything in between and even worse was the fact that they seemed to be determined that I was in consistent pain by making me stand on my left leg for long periods of time which wreaked havoc on my nerves and kept me screaming for hours on end but worst of all were the questionings which inlaid traps that sometimes made me contradict myself to the point in which I would start bawling like a baby and would not stop for hours on end and would continually blubber and stutter, neither of which I was allowed to do as a kid growing up since I was always told to keep my chin up, look at the person directly in the eyes and speak clearly, but these are the moments in which my father's teachings fail and I am forced to follow my instincts by sobbing and weeping and moaning in pain but they didn't seem to care or notice that I was suffering since they took my medicine from me when they first took me into custody. Of all the things in the world you could wish for, there was only one thing in my mind about the pain: that it should stop, nothing in the world was as bad as physical pain, in the face of pain there are no heroes. Soon O'Brien came in and whispered something into the warden's ear and the warden nodded and barked "Bring in the chair and strap the prisoner, stat!" After two minutes the chair was brought in and I was strapped in and wires were taped to my right thigh and suddenly without any indication, a thousand lightning bolts of pain shot through my thigh, eliciting screams from my throat that rendered it dry. Quickly O'Brien twisted the knob back to 'Zero' and O'Brien said that was forty and explained that in his words "You can see that the numbers on this dial run up to a hundred. Will you please remember, throughout our conversation, that I have it in my power to inflict pain on you at any moment and to whatever degree I choose? If you tell me any lies, or attempt to prevaricate in any way, or even fall below your usual level of intelligence, you will cry out with pain, instantly. Do you understand that?'" I moaned "Yes O'Brien", then O'Brien asked me "How does one man assert his power over another?" I replied "By making him suffer" O'Brien replied "Exactly, Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, and no science. When we are omnipotent we shall have no more need of science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always - do not forget this, House - always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever. O'Brien continued "And remember that it is forever. The face will always be there to be stamped upon. The heretic, the enemy of society, will always be there, so that he can be defeated and humiliated over again. Everything that you have undergone since you have been in our hands - all that will continue, and worse. The espionage, the betrayals, the arrests, the tortures, the executions, the disappearances will never cease. It will be a world of terror as much as a world of triumph. The more the Party is powerful, the less it will be tolerant: the weaker the opposition, the tighter the despotism. Goldstein and his heresies will live forever. Every day, at every moment, they will be defeated, discredited, ridiculed, spat upon and yet they will always survive. This drama that I have played out with you during these five days under our custody will be played out over and over again generation after generation, always in subtler forms. Always we shall have the heretic here at our mercy, screaming with pain, broken up, contemptible - and in the end utterly penitent, saved from himself, crawling to our feet of his own accord. That is the world that we are preparing, House. A world of victory after victory, triumph after triumph after triumph: an endless pressing, pressing, pressing upon the nerve of power. You are beginning, I can see, to realize what that world will be like. But in the end you will do more than understand it. You will accept it, welcome it, and become part of it." I was too stunned to reply on how they knew my name and how they kept me here in continual pain, I wondered if they knew I wasn't of this dimension, unfortunately O'Brien continued about how I was the last of the sprint of humanity and that when I died humanity would go extinct with me as well, he also continued about how I would be regarded as an outcast, a pariah and an enemy of society, he even continued to rant about how my friends would abandon and betray me in the end and I would die alone and would be regarded as an outsider and a public enemy as well as an enemy of the revolution and big brother. Then he ordered me to get up from my chair and an involuntary gasp rose from my chest as I saw my condition reduced to that of a skeletal man nearing death from starvation, I could count all of my ribs, and suddenly O'Brien yanked a loose tooth from my jaw and immediately a white hot burst of pain exploded in my mouth and I unsuccessfully tried to stop myself from screaming and suddenly it occurred to me that O'Brien made Tritter seem like an angel in comparison based on the treatment I had been receiving from the so called "Ministry of Love" or "Miniluv" as they called it based on the conversations I had overheard. Then O'Brien said "Look at yourself, you are losing teeth, you have a pathetic leg that forces you to take medication, your weight closely resembles that of a skeleton, you are so weak you can't even bench press a tissue, I could snap your neck like a carrot". Then O'Brien pulled out a tablet and read out "Room 101 for Gregory House" coldly and walked out as my restraints were loosened and the guards hauled me like a sack of flour into a room that seemed quite bare on initial observation but there seemed to be a bathtub in a corner, when I saw the tub, bile began to rise in my throat, but I managed to swallow the burning liquid back down my throat and I began to shiver in fear at what was going to happen, shortly afterwards O'Brien entered and explained "What is in room 101 is the worst thing in the world, the worst thing in the world varies from person to person whether it be death in general or a trivial fear that puts the person under the captor's complete submission, but in this case-well in your case as I shall say, is ice baths". At that moment when I heard the word "Ice Baths" I kicked and struggled and screamed for someone to save me but when nobody came forth to rescue me O'Brien calmly said "Nobody could save you then, and nobody can save you now, even the people that you call your 'friends' are not here to save you from your punishment of your crime and that is thoughtcrime" I wailed and howled for anybody to stop this and soon before I could stop myself, I burst out "Do this to Cuddy, do this to Wilson, Don't do this to MEEEE, PLEASSSEEE!" I started gasping like crazy but the guards held me fast as they dragged and manhandled me towards the tub sloshing with icy, slushy water. Soon I was plunged under and everything I once cared for, lost all of their meaning to me as I was dunked over and over face-first into the tub screaming and flailing about like a dying fish. It didn't take long for me to lose feeling in my face and then my whole entire body felt like it was on fire and I couldn't stop sobbing in pain, in fact I had rarely cried in the times before my custody at the Ministry of love with the rare exceptions of my infraction, and Amber's death, but while I was imprisoned I had lost track of the amount of times I broke down emotionally before the stone faced guards. The excruciating pain made me want to die several times over but O'Brien simply watched as each dunk into the water which lasted a minute drained my energy and weakened my resistance to the punishment and after hours of dunking and bathing me in the water, O'Brien ordered the guards to take me back. By then I was a sniveling, shivering, sobbing, pathetic excuse of a human being, what right did I have to exist? I didn't want to be alive anymore because I was groveling and screaming in pain to the point a guard sadly looked at me with sympathy as I suffered, but I didn't want their false sympathies because they were the ones who inflicted me with this pain, the pain was searing my veins and burning the nerve endings, I wanted them to shoot me to put me out of my misery, I especially wanted to be home where I could relax and do damage control assessment on whether I had any broken bones in my pathetic body and try to recuperate without anyone knowing of what happened to me here in the Ministry of Love, I especially wanted to die from my injures so I wouldn't have to suffer anymore. Eventually O'Brien walked in and coldly stated with no hint of emotion "You have audience with big brother, don't speak unless you have been spoken to or else you will be executed." After about five minutes the guards shackled me and manhandled me into a black van similar to the one I was brought into custody. When I was brought in front of the palace, I was astounded to see banners hanging in rows leading up to the solid gold gateway, there were turrets, towers, razor barbed fence topped walls, sentries held machine guns ready to shoot anything that was unauthorized to move as well as security cameras. The pathway was lined with neatly trimmed hedges and rose bushes in geometrical designs, the road was made of jade and trimmed neatly with silver, the lawn was neatly manicured using slaves captured from war, the palace roof was made from gold, the walls were made of silver and the foundation was made of bronze plated concrete and the windows were made of crystal. I did not know what to expect from big brother. As I was being led up the marble steps to the ruby door, stern guards watched and eyed me as if I was coming for big brother to inspect me, when we cleared the security procedures, the giant door opened on its own and my mouth dropped to the floor when I saw how big and luxurious big brother's palace was. I saw a red and white checkered carpet leading to a set of double ruby doors, the hallway was well lit and lava flowed down the sides of room giving the hallway an eerie glow, creepy music played on the speakers and the doors swung open into the foyer, red and gold and black banners hung from the ceiling, I was led through a foyer with large paintings depicting bloody scenes but they all had one thing in common: that big brother stood above and apart from the chaotic and messy scenes with an air of calm and arrogance, alternating with ebony doors with diamond knobs, soon the foyer ended and at eye level was the symbol of Ingsoc emblazoned on the gold doors and then the doors swung open on their own and I was forced down on my knees as I looked up and for a moment my heart almost stopped when I saw that the man sitting on the gilded and jewel encrusted throne was big brother ready to execute me with a mere wave of the hand and was the man who led the nation with an iron fist and was ready to crush any amount of resistance to his power, his word was law and he made everyone know of it and nobody dared contradict, criticize, or say otherwise, lest that they and their families lose their lives. Big brother wore a neatly pressed and designed military uniform decorated with rows of ribbons and medals from the Atomic war and had a red and gold striped sash over his left shoulder, I immediately noticed there were no photos of him in the throne room however. Big brother's hair was silken red and was combed, gelled, sprayed and washed and conditioned until every single strand obeyed him, his blue eyes were a royal blue and his skin was pale white as if he had not seen the sun in years, a crown decorated with the sun and moon and the planets wreathed his fiery hair, his demeanor was cold and bordering on absolute hatred. The throne room was decorated with banners hanging on the walls and ceiling and flags of Oceana sitting on the sides of the throne, the throne itself was shaped like a star burst with lava and water fountains pouring out of spigots leading up to the throne itself. Big brother broke the silence by saying "Do you know who I am or what I do?" his voice sounded like as if the earth was talking, the accent was unidentifiable and had a razor edge to it. Then he continued by saying "Do you know why I chose the name Big brother? Because names have meaning and they speak of who you are from the day you are born, the names you have determine your destiny, You will know that I am like an older brother-kind, protective, and generous, but-I am like a tyrant and a destroyer when you dare try and rebel against me, I will not hesitate to use force to humiliate and destroy my enemies before their supporters. I am not afraid to use my hit-men and bounty hunters to weed out dissenters unlike my counterpart President Snow and that is why he is enduring a coup and a revolution that threatens his power and the stability of his nation, I will go as far as annihilating an entire city by any means if I must, to destroy anyone who dares stand in my way of controlling this nation. I am a fearless leader who emanates fear to the officials and even the other counterpart leaders tremble in fear of me because they know if you anger me I will reduce your entire nation to rubble and death, I have done it before, just ask Eurasia and their leader Emmanuel Goldstein what I did to his nation and his people. I will show you the artifacts that I personally used to execute Goldstein but not before extracting confessions that would shock the world and I was personally there to witness his torture in the Ministry of Love. I destroyed his sanity little by little, by the time I smashed a hammer against his head, he was completely unaware he was about to die anyway." Suddenly he roared "I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don't want virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones. I want everyone to be quiescent and subdued!" Then he turned to me and smiled a crooked grin, a grin that makes your blood run to your bones and your heart feel like its beating a million miles per hour and then broke the tense silence by musing "You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves." And then he raised his fist and struck me square on the left jaw. My mouth tasted of blood and crooked teeth, I wanted to scream and cry, but Big brother's face betrayed no emotion what so ever, as I crumpled to my knees and waited for the pain to subside in my mouth. I could feel my mouth swelling up even as I tried to cry out in pain. My eye glasses clattered to the ground and one of Big brother's bodyguards crushed my glasses without even as much as giving a second look to the ground with his left black boot. Big brother then taunted me by quipping "If you thought you knew pain in the ministry of love, I will make sure you will be made familiar with agony" I choked "But you have made me suffer beyond the limits of human imagination, what more do you want big brother, aren't you satisfied now?" As expected, he replied tersely "No I am not satisfied, I will never be satisfied and I enjoy your suffering as much as I enjoy going out for a movie." I needed those glasses and especially protected them during my beatings because I was near sighted and even though Big brother was standing nearly three feet away from me, he was blurry because my eyes were weakening from years of stress, study, lack of sleep, and my genetics. I could only hope Big brother didn't hit me anymore or make me go anywhere because I needed those glasses in order to even be able to read my scientific journals or even be able to drive or work at all, those eye glasses even helped me see directly in front of me and not bump into walls and objects. I wanted this all to end and for me to return home safely. I squinted and tilted my head to try and get a clearer picture of whatever I was seeing, but all I could see was white and some golden fuzz and absolutely nothing clear that I could describe. My heart pounded furiously out of terror, my voice was caught in my throat and I couldn't speak, sweat poured down my neck and shoulders and I was breathing heavily, I should have known that the image of Goldstein in the Two Minutes hate was just a recording-he was already dead and declared an un-person, but why were they still showing his face in the Two Minutes hate? Was it because they were once citizens of Goldstein who was a proponent of capitalism and democracy and Big brother was channeling their worst emotions out on their former leader? Suddenly Big brother stood up and ordered me to come with him, as we left through the foyer we entered through, Big brother opened a door and when I was inside, I was stunned by what I found there, the room was quite simple; the kind used in photo shoots and there was a camera facing the white background, before I knew it, the guards were forcing me to memorize a public confession which would qualify me for charges of treason against the state and an automatic sentence for execution without the possibility of parole even though I couldn't see anything and my vision was practically useless, I was forced by gun point to say this on camera:

To the citizens of Oceana and the Honorable Big brother, I have committed grievous crimes against you and your people, I have stolen, lied, and cheated and martyred your sons and daughters of your nation and worst of all, I loved and supported Emmanuel Goldstein and capitalism, the very demon you defeated during the Atomic war, I have stolen from your coffers and have eaten away at your resources and undermined the war effort against Eastasia. I have stolen food from a bar and threatened to kill the owner, I have stolen and relayed sensitive information about Oceana to her enemies and I have insulted Big brother. I am glad the thoughtpolice found me and guided me to the right path and have helped me see how evil freedom is and how corrupting capitalism is, I am glad the Ministry of Love saved me from myself, I seek the clemency of Big brother and full release from my crimes.

Then I was guided to follow big brother through the endless maze of hallways and rooms and doors as well as through sweet smelling gardens and aviaries filled with singing birds, but I still could not see and I still wished I had my glasses so I could have seen the exotic flowers and birds and I would have appreciated them, but since my eyes were nearly blind without glasses, I could only smell and hear them and the whole sensual experience only lasted for a few minutes while Big brother boasted of his wealth and his ability to save the rare and nearly extinct animals from the war's ravages and he led me through an aquarium where I could smell chlorine and I could hear the swishing of fish and the splashing of kelp and sea animals as well as water into large tanks, anyone with common sense would know that Big brother does not treat the animals under his captivity much better than he treats his ordinary citizens or his human prisoners, I secretly wondered if he had bred these animals in captivity and passed them off as wild and I also wondered if he had the animals drugged and sedated so they wouldn't be a problem to care for. I then blinked a few times, but it was still blurry but my vision cleared slightly and I saw that the entire room was teal and blue and then the guards led me through the aquarium and into a shiny golden room, I could see a golden tree and a giant golden sun looked down from the ceiling on a star studded night-blue sky and I could make out the blurry eight planets hanging from the ceiling but that was about it. Only after a few seconds of looking at the room, the guard barked "No sightseeing, keep moving prisoner" and I was led through the room and I could hear the doors creaking on its hinges as they swung forward and when my vision cleared briefly, I saw I was in a kind of courtroom, soon twelve judges dressed in red gowns stepped forward and sat down, I was told to salute the judges, which I did, and I sat down on a chair as they read the charges they were about to press on me, I was made aware that I had absolutely no rights to an attorney, I shuddered at the thought of being sentenced to death, I could only hope that they would be merciful, but I knew behind this, Big brother would deliver the ultimate sentence.

I was released from the custody of the Ministry of Love about what seemed an eternity later after the board of punishments decided that I had suffered enough under their imprisonment, O'Brien seemed disappointed that I was leaving because he seemed to be having fun enjoying my screams resonate against the prison walls as I was being beaten. As I left the facility, storm clouds seemed to gather overhead, reflecting my bitter glum mood within as well as the turmoil I felt within. Rain and lightning accompanied me as I returned to downtown London and then suddenly without warning, a portal opened and sucked me into it.

The Return to Princeton, New Jersey

The machines shook wildly and furiously as a giant portal opened in front of Foreman's eyes. He was busy completing paperwork after a particularly difficult case they managed to solve with a lot trial and error. Foreman was unrecognizable to those who saw him weeks earlier, the sleep deprivation, the stress, the depression, the exhaustion, the emotions, and the loss of his leader and mentor Gregory House had taken an emotional, physical, and mental toll on him. He no longer spoke with confidence but with fear in his voice, his back was hunched over as if holding the world was becoming too much and he lost a lot of weight since House's disappearance and the circles under his eyes were permanently etched there by fear and stress and the sadness took away the ability to make a joke on a dime whenever he needed to. Then when he saw House, his appearance horrified him, House had bruises all over his body and was thin as a skeleton and seemed to be in pain even as he stood before his very shocked eyes and soon Foreman called for several nurses to admit House and turned around to make some urgent phone calls.

In the eyes of House.

As the wormholes sucked me backwards through time and space once again using my instincts to navigate the complex maze of destinations, none of which I had in mind and soon before I knew it I was standing before a very stunned and aged looking Foreman, I was in too much shock to say anything as I eyed him, his exhaustion crystal clear and obvious to me as he shouted for nurses to admit me. Soon I was lying in a hospital bed with morphine dripping into my body to ease the pain and torture that I had endured for an endless amount of days on end and food was brought to me and I tentatively touched it to make sure it wasn't poisoned. Then Foreman approached me carefully and spoke gently as if I were a child "Don't worry, I'm only here to take some blood samples to confirm what minerals are you lacking so we can begin your treatments" I felt a sharp prick and soon the blood was drawn and I willed myself to sleep without the guards to beat me awake. When I did wake up I first heard Wilson's voice and suddenly I realized that he was holding my hand. I felt a pair of eye glasses that looked exactly like mine on a table and when I put them on, I suddenly saw my hospital room I then spotted Cuddy whose eyes were red from perhaps crying from seeing me in my condition like this, and saw my other fellows also eyeing me carefully as if I were some nuclear threat. Soon Cameron broke the tense silence by saying "We are so glad you have finally arrived from wherever you went to." Before I could stop myself I began to tell them everything from the moment I realized I wasn't in Princeton to the moment of the Two Minutes hate, to the moment I shouted "Down with big brother" which of course led to my arrest, even Michael Tritter was there and listened to the whole entire story and was clearly horrified by my ordeal and what I had been through as I told what happened during my custody in the Ministry of Love and how horribly I was treated there and when I finished the story and looked up, all the faces in the room were slack with horror, shock, and surprise at what I went through since I had disappeared. Then Foreman told me about how he had called in hundreds of thousands of scientists and mathematicians and how doctors and nurses paid tribute to me while I was missing and how Tritter had called in cryptologists from as far as Beijing and Ho Chi Minh City but none had succeeded where Anastasia had excelled them all in using codes to blend the mathematical formulas into binary numbers that she used to build her time machine then they told me about how Anastasia managed to return from the time that she was trapped in just moments ago after I returned. I replied "The only question I have is how did I manage to return in the first place?" I carefully looked around for any telescreens or secret microphones (which I should have done in the bar) I burst out with feverish anger and shouted "I HATE BIG BROTHER!" and I uncontrollably sobbed for what seemed like the hundred thousandth time I had done so since I was imprisoned, Wilson held my hand as I cried uncontrollably and gently hugged me until I stopped, or at least temporarily until I started all over again. Foreman had left to retrieve the results a few minutes earlier and returned saying "You need a lot of iron, calcium, potassium, and fat" He continued by saying that I had lost a significant amount of weight during my imprisonment and that I needed to take more morphine and Vicodin since the intensity of the pain hovered at around 7. He also said that I needed to start eating immediately in order to prevent malnutrition related illnesses from setting in and wreaking havoc in my body, as if they weren't wreaking havoc already. My exhaustion pulled me under and I slept through the drugs and pain pretty much destroyed my self-confidence and everything I stood for. When I woke up, I saw a disheveled looking Foreman watching carefully over me to make sure that I didn't die of starvation through the night, when I asked where Wilson was, Foreman replied that he was in the hotel sleeping, I felt bitter as I mentally acknowledged that O'Brien was right that no one saved me from my punishments and nobody would save me from my future punishments and nobody in the end would even care if I lived or died and that I would always be an outcast and forgotten and a pariah to the rest of the world because of my actions and deeds in the Victory Bar. I felt powerless as a wave of guilt and regret washed over me and suddenly before I knew it I was weeping again, this time in front of Foreman who eyed me and then gently held my hand and hugged me, I did not deserve this kindness or patience that Foreman was giving me as he tried to soothe and calm me down by saying "Everything's going to be okay, you'll see, no one will hurt you." I felt completely penitent and remorseful as he tried to comfort me but I felt pathetic and useless even as I knew there was nothing I could do to forget the experiences in the Ministry of Love. I wolfed down breakfast with gusto even though it was a little known secret that hospital food was the worst food, Foreman ate his breakfast next to me but he seemed guarded as if I was going to steal his food, but the days of food stealing from anyone, even Wilson were over, I had learned and realized that stealing of all forms could get you imprisoned and tortured without fair trial and could nearly get you killed, by experiencing it for myself the hard way. Soon the whole entire team filed in slowly, even my nemesis, oh what should I call him when I have experienced hell under the hands of O'Brien, Tritter came over and asked how I was doing, he seemed angelic, like a god compared to O'Brien, even though Tritter tried to ruin my career and depict me as a drug addict, I knew he would never come as near as attacking me much less torturing me, unlike O'Brien who didn't seem to have lost any sleep whatsoever over watching me suffer in agony and detox at the same time. If anyone were to ask me who was O'Brien, I will tell them that he was the god of the devils and the lord of hell. I wanted to reply "I'm fine" but it came out as "I'm hurting". Then Wilson burst out "I can't believe you are giving up like that! You used to deny your pain, but it showed us you still had a fighting spirit and that you still cared, now you have admitted your pain and you are finally surrendering, why is this?" I suddenly heard his voice from long ago ringing in my mind that we were never really friends, perhaps it was the stress, perhaps I wasn't being rational, perhaps I was in a delirium, perhaps all the stress, pain, sadness, depression, and self-destruction weighed heavily on my mind, perhaps it was O'Brien's words ripping through my mind and heart, perhaps it was Cuddy's rejection of my love all those many years ago and at that moment everything snapped and I told him to leave but he said no, but I insisted, but Wilson was as stubborn as a mule until I threatened to call security, Wilson surrendered and left my room under pressure from Tritter, I told Foreman to ban Wilson from my room until I fully recovered because, I think Wilson didn't think before he spoke because those words didn't sting-they stabbed and offended me right in the heart. I never wanted to see Wilson as long as I lived and I hoped he would come in with his resignation and find a job elsewhere or else I would fire him within forty-eight hours, I was also planning to make Foreman the permanent head of diagnostics because, I, too was also planning to hand in my resignation and either find a job in the Seattle metropolitan area where there were plenty of openings waiting for doctors like me or I could become a representative of the WHO if James was going to be finding jobs near Seattle or the state of Washington for that matter. I then asked where Anastasia was and was told she was in the psych ward, I honestly felt sorry for her because despite conforming to society's norms and being such a genius that would have made Stephen Hawking sound like a first grader she was still rejected and ostracized because she was mentally ill. Robert asked me why I wasn't making any snarky comments, my response: "Jokes are the last thing I am thinking of, in fact I am thinking of resigning from PPTH and naming Foreman the permanent head of diagnostics, the resignation will be effective immediately, and no, none of you may object to my resignation and Foreman will be your leader, so learn to respect him as I will no longer work here." The team was in shock and refused to accept my resignation but I was determined to leave and to make a new name for myself in elsewhere, and besides I wanted to make for myself a fresh start and try and leave behind the ghosts of the past even though I knew it was impossible for me to do so. When I told Cuddy of my resignation, she was awe struck and refused to accept my resignation, but I was adamant and in the end she caved in and finally accepted even though she was reluctant to do so. It took me nearly a month to fully recover from the damages and the injuries during my custody in the Ministry of Love, during my recovery, I made sure that Wilson never saw or spoke to me because of that offending statement. Once I fully recovered, I sent my resume to Broadview Hospital and Swedish Hospital as well as my CV to both hospitals and waited for a response, the response was quick and both wanted to interview me as soon as possible. When I went to both interviews, both wanted to hire me because of my experience and knowledge in diagnosing the seemingly impossible to diagnose patients. My decision was not easy, both promised me no clinic hours and little to no socializing as possible (Both of which I loathed) and freedom to make my own medical decisions, although it would mean extra paperwork and even better, I would become a famed keynote speaker to travel the country and speak at medical conventions filled with doctors and surgeons who would be begging for my consults and input for medical mysteries similar to that I which solved in Princeton, I finally decided for Swedish hospital since it seemed more on the national medicine radar and for three times as much pay in Swedish than in Princeton Plainsboro. I packed my bags and boxes with the essentials and stuffed them into a moving truck that would drive them across the country while I flew on a plane from Princeton to Denver to Seattle. I walked to the airport and took a last look at everything I would leave behind, good memories and bad, but life moves on as they say and soon I had my baggage checked in and was buckled up and the plane was ready to take off when my cell phone buzzed for several minutes before it fell silent, then I shut it off and thought of the good times I might make with my new subordinates, I had to make a good impression unlike what I had done with my two other teams and remain professional and refrain from making crude jokes unlike what I had done in Princeton as they might be less forgiving and less understanding of me and to remain courteous at all times with the few patients I will have face-time with in order to polish my damaged reputation from the Tritter fiasco, I sighed as the plane took off from the runway, never to look back again. I fell asleep to the rhythmic hum of the engines and hours later I landed in the dry deserts of Denver and inhaled the dry, dusty air and left the airplane and entered the airport and checked my cellphone, I found messages from Wilson that I planned to never respond to, then at that moment my phone began to buzz a phone call from Foreman, when I picked up, Foreman shouted "WHY AREN'T YOU PICKING UP YOUR PHONE!" I paused for effect and tersely replied "I have left Princeton via airplane and I'm not coming back" the icy silence on the other end confirmed the weight of my news and soon he burst out, "But WHY?" I snapped "None of your damn business, from here this gets personal, and I don't want you to get involved." I quickly tapped "end call" on my Samsung S2 and turned off my cell phone once more, making a mental note to destroy the phone once I arrived in Seattle and to destroy any social accounts with my team as contacts as well to sanitize and to reorient myself in this new future I wanted to create without Wilson and Cuddy and the rest of the team pestering me. I then bought Chinese food from panda express from the food court and ate it alone in the cafeteria and realized that boarding would soon begin in half an hour and stared at the digital clock, It read 3:30 mountain time and based on my calculations I would arrive at Seattle in a couple hours and it would be 1:30 Pacific time when I arrived there. I picked up my carry-on backpack and suitcase and walked to security to get checked over in the humiliating process in which the TSA waved a magnetic wand to make sure I wasn't hiding anything since I took off my shoes and put my cane and my other items in my pockets in a plastic box which was sent into a giant X-ray, then they patted me down and sent me through the metal detector and afterwards I picked up my items and wore my shoes, I went to my gate and realized that boarding had already begun without me and I made haste to the lady who scanned my ticket and walked me through the tunnel to the plane and I quickly placed my luggage in the overhead bin and then I sat down and waited for the plane to take off. When the plane took off, I immediately fell asleep and dreamt that I was in the Ministry of Love and this time I saw myself being strapped to a table, ready to be executed via lethal injection, when the needle came close to my skin, I woke up sweating and shivering in horror as my fellow passengers stared at me concerned and man in his thirties who looked Hispanic asked me in broken English "Are you okay senor" I deflected by saying "I'm fine sir, it was just a nightmare" the others grunted in annoyance and turned to whatever they were pre occupied with before my nightmare episode occurred. After five minutes the plane landed and I picked up my luggage and left the airport in a bus and spotted an apartment near the Century Link stadium and the hospital I was to work with. I exited the bus and entered the office building and asked to see the landlord, the landlord was generally unimpressive but before I knew it, I had an apartment of the finest quality and soon my stuff would arrive and I would make this house my home, I unlocked the door to my room and saw that it was better than expected and better than my previous home, the countertops were made of black granite and the floor made of cherry hardwood. The walls were painted white, I found a 12th man flag nailed to the wall in the bedroom, and I wondered who had forgotten their flag and what did this flag represent. The kitchen was well furnished with a fridge/freezer unit as well as a dishwasher and a microwave and all of the units were of the company GE and were up to date with the current year and the fridge was stocked with water and ice dispense units. I then boarded a bus and headed to downtown Seattle to best buy so I could buy a T.V, a laptop, a Samsung 7s phone, an iPad, and a kindle as well. I then boarded another bus to buy a motorcycle since I sold my previous one on craigslist to some dude who looked like he was a part of some sort of '70s biker gang. When I bought the motorcycle, I made sure to register it and get my Washington's motorcycle license and my license to practice medicine in the state of Washington since I wasn't in New Jersey anymore and I didn't want to get into any legal trouble in my attempt to purify myself from my contaminated past, I also made sure to buy insurance for my motorcycle since I knew Seattle was notorious for its rude and obnoxious drivers and the rain as well, I also remembered to buy a helmet because I didn't want to get killed on my first day on the job. When I arrived to my apartment, I ordered pizza hut and a giant cookie since I was too lazy to buy groceries and ate in silence. Soon tomorrow the shipments would arrive and I would begin arranging the furniture to my liking and not Wilson's, then I unrolled a sleeping bag and slept in it though I had trouble falling asleep at first. When I woke up, I remembered that today was Thursday and that work began on Friday and I needed to arrange things stat. I then saw the red moving truck and I heaved myself up from the floor and left the apartment to meet with them, it took me hours to arrange everything to my liking with the help of the moving men, but finally it was accomplished. When I sat down on the couch facing the TV stand which was empty because I was waiting for the shipments to arrive, I looked at my old phone and picked up a plastic bag which would be sent to charity and placed the phone into it and sent it to Verizon and then I picked up a change of address form and change of phone number form and filled them both out and mailed them to the post office so any mail would be redirected here instead of 221B Baker street, I had thought of also legally changing my name but thought it would cause me and my new workers too much problems, so I decided against it, I even changed my medical proxy to Dr. Kagawa Houdini a young intern finishing up his last year in residency who was planning to be a sports medicine specialist and someday become a doctor for the Seattle Seahawks since he was a die-hard fan of Seahawks, football, and sports. Then I heard my door bell ring and saw that the shipments had arrived, I then installed my TV with the help of Geek Squad, and then I received assistance in activating my electronic devices and then after that I stared at the sun as it set in the horizon revealing the glittering skyscrapers and buildings as I stood from my balcony and the shining water was amazing against the green trees as it shone and glittered like a gem against the darkened sky and stars, I thought about how all my life I was missing something, I guess I was missing solitude as well as nature, or was it the city? I am not sure but now I have struck it out on my own, anything I do or say will be solely on me and nobody will be there to defend me or my actions from those who criticize me and now that I have wiped my slate clean, I realized that it was all up to me to not screw up this opportunity to leave my past behind. I quickly adjusted to my new schedule as the head of diagnostics and as a keynote speaker and ambassador for Swedish, I travelled the country and the world, speaking to doctors and surgeons and world leaders as well as congressmen and senators sometimes to convince them to pass health bills or to convince them to continue funds for certain clinical trials or researches or to encourage them to take public health in consideration in their politics, I rarely spoke with patients or interacted with them, most of my work involved filling out paperwork, solving medical mysteries and delivering speeches, I missed annoying my coworkers and playing pranks and stealing food without fear, but now that I chose this, it was time to ride the wave and see where it took me. Soon I received a phone call from the dean saying that he wanted me to deliver a speech in Moscow, Russia in two days with Vladimir Putin in attendance as well as many other health officials would be there to convene for the first WHO Health Congress and I would be the first U.S keynote speaker in Moscow in years since the international and political hostilities began. I began to pack my bags and apply for my visa there since I couldn't enter without the government's permission. Before I knew it I was on an airplane headed from Seattle to New Orleans, Louisiana to Barcelona, Spain, to Rome, Italy to Moscow, Russia.

The Speech of House.

Hello everyone and good evening Moscow. This is a great honor standing here in such a great nation with great people and such great and honorable doctors and surgeons and leaders. I stand here before you now to speak upon the behalf of one of the greatest hospitals in the world. Today in our world, our technological advances are breathtaking and wondrous, we have found vaccines to diseases that were once completely feared, now can be easily cured with an injection, but even now there are still limits to medicine and what it can do. Today in our world, we need to work together to save lives, to be committed to the protection of our progress and to look over the horizon and to work together to cure even more diseases and with the right amount of resources and the right amount of dedication-cure cancer and defeat Zika and Ebola as well. Today in our world we need to realize the true danger of refusing to acknowledge the danger of diseases and the lack of mobility to respond to them. We also need to realize the dangers of mental illness and our stigma and lack of acceptance towards the fact that even schizophrenic people are still humans who deserve compassionate care undoubtedly. We also need to realize the dangers of the lack of physical activity and the lack of nutrition. We also need to remember to also unify not for the sake of money or power or politics but for the people and the good of humanity. When we do begin to truly understand each other and begin to collaborate and unify we will make success and progress towards the betterment of human health and medicine. Thank you everyone, from Moscow to Princeton to Seattle for this amazing and wonderful opportunity to speak at this beautiful country and to stand in front of a great leader like Vladimir Putin, Thank you.

Afterwards

The applause was loud and long and I reveled in the publicity I got. Putin thanked me for my speech and my dedication towards Mother Russia and the world, I listened though headphones that helped me understand what was Putin saying, in English because he was speaking in Russian and soon more key note speakers from around the world delivered their speeches and Putin would deliver remarks to the key note speaker and the respective nation he or she represented. After the convention, I left the conference room in the Kremlin, and as I walked out of the building, I bumped into Wilson who was carrying files filled with papers, I ignored him but he noticed me as I tried to walk away and suddenly he shouted "HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, COME BACK HERE!" a Chinese woman and a Nigerian man glared at him and he apologized, while he did, I managed to escape and get into a taxi without him noticing. I remembered how the applause was loud and it felt good to be appreciated for once after all these years of being forgotten and lumped in with my former team. As I paid the taxi man and walked to my hotel. I paid for my room and then I walked to the balcony and watched the fireworks explode and boom above the St Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin in celebration of the 71st anniversary of Victory day and it suddenly occurred to me that I needed to return to the U.S stat because Wilson had connections and I was afraid he would start pestering me and unearth the past that I had worked so hard to bury. I quickly packed my bags and checked out of my hotel, then I shouted for a taxi and shouted Vnukovo International Airport immediately in my best Russian and soon the taxi sped across the roads and alleyways and before I knew it I was in front of the airport and I picked up my briefcases and suitcases containing speeches and paperwork and clothing and walked as fast as I could being limited by my leg pain and I quickly bought myself a one way ticket to Seattle at the kiosk and checked in my bag as fast as I could and managed to get through security without arousing any suspicion and I boarded my plane and waited for it to take off when my boss called asking me how it went, I replied that it had went off without a hitch and I had thoroughly enjoyed the opening and the closing ceremonies and that Putin seemed to praise my speech and was glad that I had accepted his request of delivering the speech, then my boss Kirk Goldsmith wanted me to return as soon as possible since warm welcomes towards Americans tend to cool off rapidly after a few days because of tensions between Obama and Putin that were rapidly increasing behind closed doors. As I arrived in Seattle the next day, rain was pouring down and drenching everything in its path, but there were crowds of Seahawk fans walking towards the stadium, I was curious as well as bored and decided to follow the crowd since I didn't have work till tomorrow, when I arrived, tickets were expensive and I managed to snag a spot in a place called the "Hawks Nest" even though it cost me $650 dollars from my bank account. I bought myself a 12th man home jersey and some concessions like hot dogs, beer and popcorn as well as a program to read as the Seahawk fans took their seats, but soon they began chanting "Sea-Hawks" and cheered wildly and shouted at the top of their lungs and screamed loudly to the point I couldn't hear myself even think. There were people dressed in strange and wonderful costumes to support the Seahawks as well as the opponent's fans dressed in gold and red and I interpreted them as forty niner fans coming from San Francisco and the rest of California, I then began to chant and shout and whoop and cheer along with the crowd until the Seahawks entered the field and the shouting reached a peak level and soon the 49ers arrived and the booing began. I then followed suit and started booing as well, even though I didn't know why I was booing or who I was booing.

Meanwhile in Princeton, New Jersey.

Wilson was shocked and awe struck that he had seen House delivering such a moving speech, he thought he seen perhaps a figment of his imagination or a hallucination, but lo and behold, House was there speaking with confidence and clarity. When Putin praised House in his remarks, Wilson was jealous and angry, what right House had to receive such praise and recognition from such a powerful leader like Putin, he wondered. As he saw House down the hall way walking down the stairs, carrying a suitcase filled with papers, he bumped into him intentionally, but Wilson was surprised to see House ignore him and walk away as if nothing happened, then Wilson shouted "HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, COME BACK HERE!" as he tried to reorganize his papers and stuff them into his suitcase. Then a Nigerian man commented in broken English "You have no need to yell in Putin's home." Then several of Putin's bodyguards strode over and coldly stated "No yelling please, you do realize that this is the Kremlin and the president has specifically ordered that people remain as silent as possible in the hallways, especially you noisy Americanos." A Chinese woman commented about people not respecting the sanctity of peace in the home because of loud people being everywhere. As Wilson repeatedly apologized in broken Russian, Arabic and Chinese, he noticed House managed to slip away unnoticed by the angry crowd that seemed to gather around Wilson, it took nearly an hour and a interpreter to sort things out and leave the Kremlin, it also took another forty-five minutes to arrive at his hotel because of the traffic jam from an accident, although nobody was hurt. As Wilson returned from Moscow, he could help but feel like he had blown things up between him and House to the point, their friendship was done for. Wilson then called Foreman who was not surprisingly in the middle of paperwork and then said "You will not believe who I saw at the WHO health congress convention." Foreman snarled "Let me guess, Putin?" "No" Wilson replied, "It was House, he was a keynote speaker and actually delivered a speech" Foreman's silence confirmed his shock, then he added "He bumped into me but he ignored me as if I were a stranger." Foreman confirmed by saying "Maybe you _ARE_ a stranger to him, after all he quit just to get away from your presence." Wilson said "Call Tritter and ask him to come to PPTH, me and him need to talk." Foreman was suspicious and knew House never wanted to see Wilson ever in his life and retorted "Oh, NO I won't. I will not do your favors for you, especially if you are going to pull strings in order to pester House." Wilson knew he was caught and sheepishly murmured "How did you know?" Foreman snorted and replied "I'm not as stupid as you would have liked." Wilson sighed and replied "I miss House and I want to talk to him, it's been months since we did have an actual conversation and it wasn't a happy one either." Foreman replied "I miss House too, but he has moved on with his new life without us, it's time for us to move on with our new life without House."

Meanwhile in Seattle, Washington.

I watched the game and it was a wild regular season game, first Russell Wilson would score a 25 yard passing touchdown then ensued a frenzy of touchdowns, fumbles, interceptions, and fouls. A couple of players on the 49ers side were concussed and didn't return, at this rate, I shouldn't have been surprised if Russell Wilson also got injured by a sack, but he seemed to get up without a problem, but I was concerned if he had any whiplash effects from the tackle, but lo and behold, he came back in dodging several linebackers when the ball was snapped and managed to score winning the game in the last few seconds of the game, once Hauschka kicked the football through the uprights, the game was over and the players and fans on the Seahawks side celebrated and danced while the scoreboard read 28-21 Seahawks. I left after the game concluded and drove my motorcycle back to my apartment and celebrated the game with my new purchase, a 12th man jersey authentic and official purchase courtesy of the NFL. I then turned on my Samsung Smart TV and began to watch the post-game analysis. I then watched the movie Olympus Has Fallen on Netflix. Suddenly the phone rang and I picked it up, I was shocked it was Tritter asking why I leaved Princeton and my job so quickly. I replied "If you found a higher paying and a higher ranking position in your field, would you say no? Tritter conceded "Point taken, but why so far away though." I sighed and replied wistfully "I want to escape my past and make a new future for myself" Tritter replied "You can never run away from your past, because it will only follow you" I replied "I can only try." I hung up the phone and sighed, what good what it do even if I returned to Princeton I darkly thought. The next several months passed without incident, I felt good knowing I would finally make a difference in a way that I wanted to, soon Kirk announced his retirement and I would be his successor in the head dean of medicine and now more than ever I would have bigger responsibilities as well as paperwork the height of Mt. Rainer and the first few days were especially crazy with all the hubbub from the doctors congratulating me on my new position, even nurses and patients brought me congratulations. I rapidly once more adjusted into my new life as a dean of medicine and diagnostician and keynote speaker, when I returned home I heard about the break ins and robberies in the neighborhoods near me so I took protective measures by buying a home alarm and some games like Call of Duty and several consoles as well and subscribed to Guns & Ammo and returned home after a long day at work. I then decided to take a nap to rest from the craziness from it all.

Meanwhile in Princeton, New Jersey.

Wilson was paying Tritter to pull strings and connections in order to find out where he lived in order to confront him and apologize to him as well. He was amazed by the fact that House became a dean of medicine of Swedish Hospital and made his hospital the number five hospital in safety and effectiveness, ironically because he knew House was prone to recklessness and lack of effectiveness. Wilson then flew to Seattle when he thought House would be at work, he then broke into House's home and suddenly a piercing alarm shrieked above Wilson and he knew he had a matter of time to escape before security caught him for breaking and entering into someone's home. He ran as fast as he could with his two good legs when a man shouted "I'M GONNA CALL THE POLICE FOR THIS!" and when he turned around he saw House clearly aged and upset and utterly betrayed and leaning on his cane heavily and he looked like he had been napping and soon he saw the whine of the police cars rounding the bend and tried to run when a car hit him and pain exploded from his left side and darkness overtook him and he lost consciousness.

Meanwhile in Seattle, Washington.

The alarms blared and shrieked and awoke me from my nightmares. When I ran out to the entrance I saw a retreating figure dressed in white (why did they want to rob me?) running towards the street and I hollered "I'M GONNA CALL THE POLICE FOR THIS!" and when he turned around, I could've sworn I had seen him before, but before I was to make any conclusions, the police arrived and that was when all mayhem ensued afterwards so I'm going to go into slow-motion mode: First the man seemed to recognize me, but a white sedan ran that man over, and I went into doctor mode to try and save the man's life, when I came over to the man, I thought the world began to spin rapidly as I saw the blood pooling around the unconscious body of James Wilson but I was getting nauseous and I tried to remember what to do as I tried to perform CPR but I knew he was long gone from the blunt force trauma and soon he would die, whether I did anything or not. I heard Tritter's words ringing in my mind saying "You can never run away from your past, because it will only follow you." I screamed for an ambulance as the officer tried to assist me but I knew nothing could save my friend because of my actions and that I would pay for them for the rest of my life. Even the driver was calling for an ambulance but at that moment, I swear when I held his hand and shouted "WAKE UP WILSON, I'M SORRY I DIDN'T CALL YOU EARLIER!" I felt his last heartbeat and I announced "Time of death 1:32 PM pacific time" and that was when I started sobbing like I had done during my stint in Princeton while I was recovering and then I felt the officer's hand on my shoulder as he tried to apologize to me for my loss. Right on cue as if it were magic, the skies drenched me and the scene with rain as the ambulance came to take away his body. I heard another voice echoing through my mind this time it was O'Brien's voice saying "In the face of pain there are no heroes and in the face of death there are no martyrs." Then I heard O'Brien's taunting voice again saying "Nobody could save you then, and nobody can save you now, even the people that you call your 'friends' are not here to save you from your punishment of your crime and that is thoughtcrime." The funeral for Wilson was two days later and I avoided my fellows at all costs. I somehow couldn't bring myself to share words of comfort to anyone so I remained silent and sobbed and cried like a pathetic baby while the others stood on the podium and spoke of Wilson and how he affected their lives and how it wouldn't be the same now that he wouldn't be around. I felt miserable and depressed and exhausted by what had happened. I was silently brooding about how I was going to live my life miserable and alone without my friend to give me guidance, suddenly Foreman interrupted my thoughts and said "You've been crying again, like the time you broke down in front of me in the hospital." I sighed and replied "Why can't I escape my past and make a fresh start, why can't I be happy, why can't I enjoy the rewards of my struggle, my revolution against my demons?" Foreman gasped and said "So that's why you quit and left Princeton." "Yeah" I muttered then suddenly my phone began to buzz and I replied "Got to go, I have a teleconference and it's very important for me not to miss it." Foreman grumbled about the lack of respect towards former workers and I left the room in the church and I answered it, the board wanted to do a weekly inspection and I had to be there to deliver the safety and fatality reports from the week and also they wanted me to deliver a report on how many donors donated money and how much money did each donor donated and a report on any injury incidents that may have happened and also they wanted me to turn in my paperwork as soon as three days because in three days, New Year's eve was beginning and there would be a backlog in analyzing paperwork from around the state, by the time I was finished with the teleconference, it was two hours later and was sitting alone in the terrace of a café in Seattle and it was 9:30 and I needed to head home. As I was in my apartment, I eyed the rare glass vase that was smashed into millions of pieces, symbolic of my friendship with pretty much everyone before 2013, and my heart since the death of Wilson. I refused to believe he was dead but he was dead and buried and gone forever. The past three days were spent on stressing out, inspecting, barking orders at housekeeping and nurses to maintain orderliness and cleanliness and showing the health inspectors around during the afternoon and the medicine inspectors at 6:00 in the evening on the third day as they took notes and carefully eyed every single nook and cranny they could get their eyes on. Luckily I received an A++ grade in the safety inspection for my Hospital as well as excellent grades for other areas as well and I managed to mail my paperwork and decided to head to the downtown Seattle to celebrate the passage of 2015 at 8:49 PM and soon I ate till couldn't eat and shouted "Seahawks" with the others and dancing, or at least I tried to before I realized I was embarrassing myself by wearing my lab coat and dancing as if I had two left feet. I sat down embarrassed and decided to watch the fireworks exploding over the star-lit skies, I even drank and sang like a weirdo even though nobody minded me, then the DJ would play loud music while the patrons danced and people reveled in the cheerful atmosphere, I only came here to drown out my recent sorrows, and it seemed to work, so far. I then decided to watch football on the televisions that they put up around the bar and before anyone knew it, it was 11:59 PM and people were counting down from 60 to 0 and when the minute hand hit "Twelve" people started taking selfies, screaming, shouting, whooping, kissing, hugging, and dancing about while they wore shiny outfits and light-up glasses saying "2016" and other new year memorabilia while they sang and congratulated each other on the new year. I sighed as I knew this was my first time celebrating the New Year without Wilson and his corny jokes to liven up the humor, I rose from my seat picking up my cane waiting for the shaking room to settle down so I could walk home. I then arrived at my apartment fifteen minutes later because I was weaving across the streets filled with people celebrating the happy occasion with smiles on their faces. I then tripped over a step and twisted an ankle while walking up the stairs to my room, the pain wasn't noticeable, but I knew I was going to regret what I did the next morning and it would be one crazy hangover once I woke up. Luckily tomorrow was Saturday and I would be able to take a day off from work and recover from my self-destruction. As I fell asleep I dreamt I was in Victory Bar drinking the huge bottle of Victory Gin and I was dancing wildly and shouting "Down with big brother" as I refused to pay for the Gin and I snatched up a loaf of bread and began eating mouthfuls of it like a greedy beggar that had been starved for days on end. And suddenly before I knew it armed guards were shoving drunk patrons from their pathway as I ran to the pool room where there was a couple of men smoking and playing pool and I tripped over a man and he began to beat me with the billiard stick, by some miracle I was pulled by the wrist and I managed to escape from the clutches of the angry, drunk, muscle-bound, military looking man, my leg was burning me alive as I tried to run with the man, but suddenly a Thoughtpoliceman tackled me and soon the riot control forces began to attack me with their batons and they began to wrestle me to the ground and quickly handcuffed my wrists and began to manhandle and drag me into the van, suddenly I bolted awake in my bed, sweating and gasping and looking around to confirm I was in Seattle and not in London, I then saw the sun streaming through the blinds and realized it was morning time and it was time to get ready and start eating breakfast. I then cooked eggs and wolfed them down, remembering the dream in which I was starving and thirsty until I quenched both of them in the bar and getting me in serious trouble. I then read an issue of Guns & Ammo and suddenly a thought dawned on me, What if I hadn't paid for my tab when I drank at the bar in Seattle? I was worried the SWAT would come after me guns blazing, so I walked to the bar and asked the barkeeper "Do I owe you any money from any purchases last night?" I must have looked worried because the barkeep replied "Don't worry Doc. You paid for your drinks when you left, and dude? Do me a favor and go home and rest before you get arrested for driving while drunk." I silently was glad there would be no seal team sixes after me considering the fact I was nearly beaten to death by a similar team but with malicious intent. I then returned to my apartment and fell asleep this time I dreamt I was in the Ministry of Love, strapped to a chair ready to be punished and beaten, when O'Brien came over and said "In the face of pain, there are no heroes and in the face of death, there are no martyrs." Then he raised his fist and punched me mercilessly as I couldn't defend myself from the attacks. Then he twisted the knob on a machine and I shrieked in agony and pain, when he reached towards the knob once more, I bolted awake in my bedroom sweating and screaming in pain realizing I was still in Seattle and no longer in London, Oceana. I realized it was Sunday and it was game day and I walked over to my living room and decided to watch the game of the Seahawks against the Patriots. I booed and hissed the Patriots as they entered their home turf in Foxborough and I screamed and cheered like a little kid who was a bandwagoner for the Seahawks, at that moment I was glad I was alone and cheering because I would lose my hard-won reputation through the new-fangled apps like Twitter and Facebook. When the Seahawks won by a field goal, I celebrated like I never did at the New Year's Eve celebrations and I sang songs and celebrated like it was 1999. I then ordered some pizza and ate while watching the post-game show and the analysis.

In Salt Lake City, Utah

The next day I needed to go to the University of Utah Medical Center in order to attend a convention where there would be several Malaysian doctors speaking about the potential of immunotherapy and its benefits on cancer patients, when I arrived there, I saw Eric Foreman there severely aged and exhausted beyond belief as he spoke and introduced the doctors who wore specially modified microphones to help us understand what they said in Malaysian, I was intrigued why was Foreman so ill and why was he even delivering a speech when he should be resting. A South African doctor then spoke and praised several drug trials and their progress towards curing cancer. After the convention which took nearly a day to finish with speakers from around the world, I even recognized some of the WHO congressmen and women who walked together in clusters and were talking amongst themselves about the new session that would begin in Christchurch, New Zealand in a week from now. I then approached Foreman and congratulated him on his speech and praised him. Then came the difficult question which had hung over like a cloud in my head for the past year: "Do you know where Anastasia is and where I can talk to her?" Foreman sighed and said "We can't house her in our psych ward because the ward is getting overcrowded and she is extremely exceptional so we sent her to the University of Miami medical center psych ward so they can talk to her and help her." I was disheartened when I learned of changes occurring. Foreman added "Lisa Cuddy has decided to resign her position as dean of medicine and has decided to name me her successor, also have you heard that many professors and mathematicians and cryptologists want to talk to Anastasia and how did she invent time travel?" I was shocked anybody would want to talk to her considering she was mentally ill. I simply replied "I didn't know, but why?" Foreman shot "In case if you haven't noticed, she is a genius that beat Einstein at his own game and discredited the theory of relativity" I grunted and sighed because she was the main reason I was trapped in Oceania but I also needed to talk to her and see how she was doing. I then congratulated Foreman on his new position and we said our good byes and we both went our separate ways.

In Miami, Florida.

As I arrived in Miami, the first thing I noticed about that place was that it was hot, muggy and humid and that there was sand here and sand there, and palm trees everywhere I looked. There were lots of tourists smearing sun screen on their legs and arms while they took tours of the scenic area, but I wasn't here for sight-seeing or taking pictures of the beaches. I was here to check on someone I didn't care about, and I was seeking answers that only she held about how the Ersed device activated and why. The hospital was large and was like a maze and a labyrinth with hospital rooms all wrapped in one, I even at one point ended up in the ICU, several kilometers from my intended destination, soon I got to the psych ward with the help of a middle-aged pulmonologist who was extremely talkative and apparently loved the Miami Dolphins and was wearing a Ryan Tannerhill jersey and was boasting about how she was a season ticket holder since 1992, she was even wearing a Dolphins lanyard holding her ID badge that read Dr. Martha Masters. Suddenly I burst out "You were once an intern at my hospital!" Then Martha laughed "nooooohohoho." She added "I was an intern at Newark Memorial, I don't know which hospital you are talking about though, sorry if I confused you with a case of mistaken identity." My heart sank when I remembered that the Martha Masters I took under my wing was a radiologist and not a pulmonologist and she was now working at Baylor Medical University center, not the University of Miami medical center. As I entered the ward, Dr. Martha said "Talk to you later, no?" I grumbled about everything in general and I spoke to a psychologist who pointed in the direction of her room and then he added "One visitor at a time please." I then entered her room and saw Anastasia sitting on a swivel chair in front of a small desk where she had a large stack of papers. She was furiously scribbling some notes into a notebook and would rip out pages and tack them to a cork board where there were other pages of formulas written and tacked onto the board as well. When she looked up, she muttered 'Apologize first, then see if he forgives you', then she blurted "I'm very sorry about the machine, it wasn't my fault, I should have not made the code so complex, it took me three weeks to crack it, It also took me a long time because I was in Rome and I was imprisoned in the Wolf house and the guards were so harsh and mean." Then she burst out a series of formulas that nobody understood and she started sobbing and sobbing while I hugged her and tried to calm her down. Then I asked "How did I return before you did?" She then wiped the papers off her desk and drew a diagram on how she reversed the vortex that had dumped me in London, Oceania, and because the machine can only bring back or forth a person at a time, the reversal of her vortex was delayed. Then I asked how did it activate in the first place, she then removed the paper and started drawing another diagram on her guess on how the device activated and how she thought the device began to activate, it tore the fabric of time and space, she even proposed a theory about how if time travel was used too many times, it would cause time chaos where the boundaries between different time periods would break down and it would be apocalyptic if this ever happened, Anastasia even said that if the fabric was torn too many times, it would cause galaxies and universes collide at such speed, it would destroy the existence of humanity. I was horrified at her grim prediction of what would happen if time travel became common. She even said "Please either mail the notes on time travel and the device to me or destroy it all because I don't want to be blamed for the end of the world and I don't want my papers to land in the wrong hands and please don't use the device again if you want to keep it, I was wrong all this time on the beauty of science and how I could use it for the good of humanity and how I could travel through time and fix our broken history but it nearly killed us both and cost us both whatever was left of our sanity." She sighed and said "It was all my fault. I shouldn't have done this, this was all my doing, I should have known this was going to happen, I should have realized that this put your life in serious jeopardy, I wish I didn't do this." I felt nothing but compassion and remorse for her and I simply said "I forgive you." She then looked on in disbelief as the psychiatrist peeked into the room and said "Sir your visiting hour is up, I'm afraid you will have to leave soon." I then said my goodbyes to her as she sobbed out of emotion and happiness that I had forgiven her, she then thanked me for visiting her, not for the sake of an interview or a picture but to just seek answers and to see her out of pure concern. As I left the hospital, I felt a wave of crushing guilt overtake me once again over me wanting to confront her when she was mentally fragile and emotionally unstable like she was in that ward. Suddenly images of her sobbing appeared in my mind and I tried to shake them out as I left Miami via airplane to Mesa, Arizona then to Seattle, Washington.

Back in Seattle, Washington.

I then picked up my motorcycle at the Sea-Tac airport and drove hove, exhausted physically and mentally by today's events, I then decided to watch the news but missed the six- o'clock news so I decided to go to sleep and try and rest before the weekly board meeting. I then fell asleep rapidly with exhaustion overtaking me. I dreamt I was in the Ministry of Love once again (Why can't these dreams stop?) O'Brien stood over me patiently as he said "Do you ever wonder what happens to the people that disappear? Do you ever wonder what happened to the enemies of the revolution, the enemies of big brother, and the enemies of ignsoc?" I wasn't sure how to respond so I tactfully responded "I don't know" O'Brien twisted the dial to sixty-five and it tore a scream from my lungs to the point, my throat was burning and dry as a desert and soon he said "Of course you don't, you are an ignorant person whose ability to discern lies from truth is so warped, the lies become the truth." Then he said "We first kill them and declare them an unperson" Before he could reach for the knob, I bolted awake in my bedroom, gasping and sweating and shivering. I realized it was Tuesday and I needed to hurry before rush hour began and I couldn't afford to be late. I then got myself ready for the day, ate breakfast, and then drove my motorcycle to work. I then arrived to the conference room and prepared it by putting up poster boards and hooked up my laptop to the presentation and waited for the board members to come. The members of the board were the stereotypical old, fat, balding Caucasian men wearing suits under their lab coats (As if they practice medicine anymore.) The members were condescending and rude like they always were, they spoke to me with severe disapproval as if I was failing a test (Not that I was aware of being tested of any tests.) But I ignored the member's treatment and went on with the presentation and delivered it smoothly without a mistake and soon the presentation was over and the members remained neutral and unimpressed but I remained unfazed and noncommittal to the men. After the meeting, I was so preoccupied with several medical mysteries, that I missed several phone calls from Foreman asking for a consult, honestly these days I was so busy I had to put several cases on waiting list, making exceptions for those whose health condition detoriated to critical. I then tried to call back but apparently he was busy because he didn't answer. I then received an email saying that I was one of the keynote speakers invited to Christchurch to speak at the University of Canterbury with other WHO speakers from around the world and this time Prime Minister John Key would attend and he would deliver remarks as well. I packed my bags and bought a round trip ticket to Christchurch, New Zealand at the kiosk in the Sea-Tac airport and then I arrived early morning in Monday when the convention would be on Wednesday, I then took some time to sight-see the city then returned to my hotel and by the time I returned to my room, it was 10:00 PM and I was already falling asleep. I dreamt I was in the Ministry of Love once more again and I was on the floor moaning and groaning while the guards were shouting curses and insults while laughing at my suffering. I winced in pain as I tried to make myself comfortable on the bare concrete floor awash with my blood, but the nearest guard sneered and shouted "Enemy of the people, Enemy of big brother, you must suffer, you must scream and cry and beg, you must be humiliated." I felt pathetic and scared at what beatings they might try on me and I was worried what punishments would they dream up for me to serve, I curled up in a fetal position in hopes that would soften the blows from the truncheons, but a guard grabbed a double-barreled shotgun with a heavy wooden stock and butt and began to beat my back with the butt of the gun, I cried out in pain and began to sweat furiously, blood was gushing through my newly-opened cuts that were healing from my previous beating sessions and soon I woke up gasping and clawing at my sheets and realized suddenly I needed to get fresh air and I ran out to the balcony and inhaled and exhaled and suddenly it occurred to me I couldn't take these dreams anymore. I needed help. I decided to phone Dr. Ethan Nakamura, he was Dr. Eric Houdini's cousin and was a psychiatrist at Broadview hospital and at one point I unsuccessfully tried to hire him but he wanted to make a name for himself without working under Houdini's shadow as he put it to me curtly as he walked out of the interview that day. I then phoned in and set myself an appointment which I promised myself to keep. When Nakamura returned my call he seemed shocked and awe struck and yet he seemed tense as he spoke "Why are you even trying to call me? I'm trying to sleep, thanks to you, I'm going to need more coffee than usual." I snorted "You do realize I need your help because I'm having nightmares that are driving me crazy" Nakamura replied nervously "That can't be good." I was jittery and shaken by the tone of Dr. Nakamura when he said those words, Nakamura added "If you need an emergency appointment stat please let me know because this means I'm going to need to perform an intake and prescribe medication ASAP!" I then replied "I'm in Christchurch I can't make any appointments until Monday to say the least" Nakamura cursed and tensely replied "I have a ton of meetings on Monday next week, Tuesday is the earliest I can reserve an appointment for you." I mentally swore and checked my schedule which was stuffed to the seams with meetings with the board, and then I replied "I'll be there at 12:00 Tuesday" Nakamura grumbled a slur in Japanese and then growled "Fine, it is confirmed." After I ended my call with Nakamura, I began to swear as well, knowing that this was a high-profile client I was cancelling my appointment with. I then fell asleep powerless to the exhaustion that was weighing me down. I dreamt I was back in the ministry of love (This is really getting old) O'Brien questioned "How many fingers am I holding?" I thought that was a stupid question since he was holding four fingers, before he could twist the knob, I blurted out "Four." O'Brien hissed "It is not four, it is five, try again" O'Brien twisted the knob back and forth from 'zero' to 'sixty' a least fifteen times while calmly watching my screams shred my eardrums, I could only writhe in pain while restrained in a chair. I bolted awake and screamed in terror at my nightmare, O'Brien's voice taunted "The past is dead, the future, unimaginable" I remembered that the convention would begin in a couple of hours, so I decided to eat some breakfast and watch television. After breakfast, I left the hotel and arrived at the university and saw Dr. Robert Chase of Australia, carrying easels and poster boards filled with diagrams explaining different subjects. The university was filled with students curiously peeking between the curtains that were portioning the auditorium in half, the room was warmly decorated with oak-paneled sidings, and the ceiling was painted with ornate neo-classical images of cherubs and Greek gods and heroes interspersed throughout, with the blue cloudy sky as their background, there were also large crystal chandeliers leading to the stage, the seats were cozy and were red leathered, the lemon wax smell from the clean, shiny cherry-hardwood floors was strong and omnipresent. As I took my seat at the front row where the medical officials like me and world leaders began to file in one by one to take their designated seats. While I texted, presenters began to prepare the stage so they could begin their presentations after I delivered my speech.

You are Foreman.

When you arrive in Christchurch, New Zealand, you aren't sure what to expect when the convention begins, over the past year you have become extremely stressed out about your new job as a Dean, coupled with the anger and the bitterness over the death of your best friend James Wilson. At first you felt numb and filled with grief, but as the days wore on, the numbness turned into fury at why he had to die, being run over a car, you especially wanted to punch Gregory House for his inability to save your friend even though the doctor side of you repeatedly told your mind that he couldn't be saved even if he was placed on life-support. When you walk into the auditorium, to your shock and horror, you see the same god damned man fully dressed nicely in a suit and bow tie and lab coat to wrap up the package. But what doesn't shock you is that he is House, what shocks you is based on his appearance alone, he looks as if he were dead and he may have lost twenty pounds since the last time you saw him, his eyes are lined with wrinkles and he is wearing black-framed eye glasses that seemed to be prescription glasses, the same glasses that you had found in his apartment while he was recovering in Princeton, his blue eyes that were once filled with mischief and arrogance have been replaced by eyes filled with grief and sadness and a kind of depression as if he were regretting what he had done through his life, his hair once shiny black was now streaked with gray and white, and his posture once filled with confidence now bowed and filled with exhaustion, his face seemed to be filled with guilt and worry as if he knew you would be there to confront him, when he looks up from his phone and sees you, he addresses you with kindness, and his voice is filled with weariness. He gently places a hand on your shoulder and says "Is everything okay?" with concern. You cannot believe he had the audacity to even address you like that, you feel offended! "Everything's fine" you shoot back, his face crumples up as if he were about to cry, tears fill his eyes but he says nothing as tears flow down his cheeks and he looks down and his shoulders begin to heave up and down and he simply sits down while a Japanese woman wearing her kimono and lab coat gently soothes him in her native language, a Libyan woman glares at you, shooting lasers with her eyes. Someone taps you on the shoulder and you see a Botswanan holding an American flag pin in his hand and says hesitantly "Wear this flag on your shirt, we will be able to know your homeland this way." You notice even Gregory is wearing a U.S flag pin on his lapel proudly and others are wearing flag pins of their respective nation, you wear your flag pin as well and sit between a Canadian and a Honduran, both glare at you and mutter in their respective languages but you ignore them and suddenly you realize that John Key just introduced Gregory House to deliver his speech.

After the Speech.

I finished my speech and realized that the applause was loud and getting louder as they cheered me on for my speech. This speech was personally a hard one to write since I had taken a hiatus from keynote speaking for several months because of my overcrowded schedule and it was difficult for me to come up with ideas in today's world where every single thing you do or say is scrutinized heavily by teenagers hiding behind childish usernames. I was personally hurt by Eric Foreman's words, but I would not let the words get personal to me, but I promised myself to never extend my hand of kindness like that to just anyone who does not deserve my sympathy like Foreman ever again, I tried my best to show another side of myself but when Foreman just shot down my words like that, it struck my heart that somehow O'Brien was right that in the end I will always be an outcast to my former circle of friends because I was the enemy of Big Brother and the revolution. I felt the weight of the guilt crushing my chest and shoulders but I didn't care about the cheering as I left the stage and shook tons of hands that my right hand and shoulder ached like hell, I sat down in my seat and watched the keynote speakers rise to the podium one by one and speak and deliver their speeches as well, when the closing ceremonies finished, I tried to leave but I bumped into Foreman again, it seemed as if I could not escape my past no matter how far I would run or how well I would hide myself. Foreman seemed angrier than ever, even though I didn't do anything to antagonize him, but before I could craft an elaborate explanation, he started yelling at me, and to make matters worse, congressmen from the U.S and the Philippines congress were also there to witness it all unfold. Foreman yelled "This is all your fault, I wish _you_ had died that day as opposed to Wilson, I hope _you_ die alone in pain and I hope you go to hell when you die, I hope _you_ drown or get crushed under a car so _you_ can suffer every ounce of pain that Wilson went through when he died." I was too stunned by the words to defend myself from the accusations that Foreman began to accuse me of, I felt stabbed, betrayed, broken, defenseless, and utterly useless. Let's say that in my years of being alive on this planet, I had never before heard any human being utter such falsehoods and lies that I thought no human being was capable of ever on this range ever emit from their lips until today that was when I heard Foreman spout such utter stupidity on such a level, it completely changed my perception about him and it forced me to realize that I was stupid to have thought I could repair my broken friendship with Eric Foreman. I knew this was the breaking point of no return and that Foreman had just burned his bridges that I had carefully crafted over the ten years with hard work and tears. I felt as shattered as a mirror and as irreparable as a fragmented mind. Before I could defend myself, a congressman from Maryland bellowed at Foreman "What IN THE WORLD IS HAPPENING HERE? Can't you see that students are studying for the midterms? You should be ashamed of yourself, you are not only representing yourself, you are also representing the industry of medicine of the United States, if you have a personal issue save it for later when you are somewhere private, we do _not_ care to hear about your problems." Another congresswoman of Washington State berated and admonished Foreman by saying "You have not only embarrassed your hospital or yourself, you have embarrassed the whole entire nation of America in front of the WHO congress and I will remember to take note of this incident in your employment file and report it to the board, they will determine the best discipline for you, it seems as if your problems are not being addressed, in that case I recommend you to take intensive sessions of psychotherapy starting immediately, I will make sure that will be in your conditions for employment." Foreman's rage seemed to be spent and his head was bowed in shame at what he had said in front of half of the world's representatives, he began to apologize profusely to the congressman and congresswoman, and as he did, the pain that was steadily growing in my chest caused me to clasp my shoulder, knowing that the world was going to a blur and my head was spinning and my vision went dark.

I felt like I was floating and the pain was gone, the light was bright and beautiful, but the feelings didn't last long when I slowly opened my eyes and thought "Where am I?" I eyed a poem from a page in a magazine, it read:

Life.

It's a mystery.

We walk into life unknown.

We work towards the top.

To watch it all come crashing down.

Whatever we are left with.

We try, we do, and we can.

But in the end, it won't matter, none of it.

The shadows will eat us up in the end.

And we will die forgotten.

I was personally creeped out by the fact this poem was so true to the darkness and the theme of life. I saw flowers from around the world placed in my room, putting a nice touch of color in the stark white room. A doctor walked in and said that I had collapsed due to dehydration and exhaustion and that in my apparent carelessness I had also broken my shoulder, he also said that a doctor from Latvia and a surgeon from Italy as well as the officials near me began to tend to me when I passed out in the auditorium and that I would be discharged tomorrow, and that I was out for a day before I woke up. I moaned in pain from my shoulder, apparently I had hurt it when I fell down the stairs and had forgotten all about the pain because of my hectic schedule. I noticed that my left arm was on a sling, no doubt to relive pressure on the broken shoulder and the fractured clavicle. I heard the soft click of the door opening and turned to see Michael Tritter bringing flowers and he burst out "You look like hell Greg, what happened to you." I told him that I collapsed and was brought to the hospital, the doctor left the room and Tritter sat next to me asking if I needed anything that he could bring, I was so totally out of it that I said no. I wasn't sure where I was so I asked Tritter "Where in Christchurch am I?" Tritter replied "You are in Southern Cross hospital." I asked "Where the bloody hell is Eric Foreman, I need to talk to that son of a bitch and grill his ass for embarrassing me in front of Jay Inslee and Dan Newhouse, I can't wait to report his face to the board once I get back to the States" Tritter rolled his eyes and flatly stated "I'm afraid your plan for revenge will have to wait because we have no idea where has he disappeared to." I grumbled "I'll get him someday, I swear to the stars if it's the last thing I do, I will get even with him." One thing you have to know about me is that if you make me angry, I will make you pay big time, and paying the price might include a ruined reputation and a destroyed career in the process. I was so angry I wanted to make Foreman pay for the false accusations against me, I wanted his wife to hang her head in shame when she hears his name because of how he made me cry in front of the audience and started spouting off without thinking first. I wanted to embarrass him so badly he would have to wear a paper bag when entering the public. I was totally exhausted and depressed and dispirited to the point I wanted to just sleep but Tritter was with me and I needed to talk to him about what had happened since I had left Princeton to make for myself a better future but I wasn't sure how to begin. I realized that I was shaking from the realization that I had also embarrassed myself by collapsing in front of the whole world. I wanted to sob and cry and bury my face in my pillow, but I was so powerless, I simply lay there and opened up on what happened, I told him about how I had gotten a job months ago as a Dean of Medicine and how Wilson died in my arms as I was powerless to save him from bleeding to death, I told him about the bout of depression that I was battling recently and the nightmares that were haunting me, I even told him of what O'Brien told me that struck me funny, the quote was "In the face of pain, there are no heroes, in the face of death, there are no martyrs". Tritter listened to every single word and simply uttered "You have had one hell of a year since you disappeared to Oceana and came back and resigned." I was speechless at how he had put it like that, I knew he was an extremely observant man and knew what made people tick, but this surprised me on how he seemed to care unlike some people I had seen through my life befriend me and then abandon me in my hour of need and then ruin my name in the process as well. I felt the guilt rushing faster than I could prepare and brace for its painful memories that it would bring and the depression that would be left in its wake in my mind and soul. I felt fragmented and shattered deep within and I knew that in the end, nothing would matter, no matter how hard I would try to make it matter. I was discharged from the hospital the next day and I returned to Seattle, Washington, Tritter was with me as well, I first picked up my paperwork from my office in the hospital and then returned my apartment where Tritter made himself at home and soon I decided to make us dinner since I had forgotten to eat breakfast in the rush to get to my airplane. Tritter looked up from his newspaper and dryly joked "Looks like the world's common sense has gone down the Chinese drains." I scoffed at the joke and began chopping vegetables to make stew and picked up the telephone to order pizza, when Tritter turned on the television and began to watch his favorite team Patriots take on the Jets. He booed and hissed and would shout from time to time "That wasn't a foul, you dumb blind ref!" I struggled to keep my snickering to a minimum when I burst out laughing when he yelled "That was a catch, he was in the LINES!" By the time he calmed down, the pizza man had brought the pizza and I had already finished cooking the stew and dinner was ready. Tritter seemed as hungry as I was because he greedily wolfed down his stew and pizza, as I began to eat, suddenly thoughts of my torture began to flood my mind and I suddenly lost my appetite for that night, I decided to drink Pepsi and watch a horror movie, Tritter was so terrified he clung to me like a baby from a bunch of monsters that can't leave the television screen. I groaned and rolled my eyes decided to hand him the T.V remote and see what he would watch, he decided to watch the post-game show and I watched it too, but I decided that after the post-game show, I was going to head to bed after the hectic traveling. Tritter decided to head to his hotel room and get some shut eye before he returned to Princeton, I sighed and said my goodbyes to him as he left. I sighed and unconsciously rubbed my broken shoulder, still on a sling, I knew I was going to watch the Seahawks take on the Rams, even though I knew they were going to lose because of the intense rivalry that they shared. Suddenly a realization hit me that I had forgotten to carry out my promise to track the time machine and notes and to return them to Anastasia. I realized I needed to return to Princeton, I was exhausted and fell asleep. At any rate I was returned to the land of my nightmares soon before I knew it. I woke up the next morning and ate toast and flipped on the television and thought 'If I'm going to find the time machine, I can't just search randomly everywhere, it would be a waste of resources, also I need to make my appointment with Dr. Nakamura, and I need to find her notes as well, if they haven't already landed in the wrong hands.'

You are Robert Chase.

Ever since the funeral of James Wilson, your best friends have been avoiding you as if it were your fault, even though you had nothing to do with his death, the silent treatment gets so bad, that a year later you decide to call it quits and decide to seek a job under the leadership of Dr. Gregory House because you can't take the implied blame your co-workers place on you. You aren't sure whether House will accept your application or not and you are nervous he won't accept your CV and resume because he is notorious for accepting only world renowned doctors who have proven themselves to be even slightly close enough at diagnosing the impossible to diagnose, and he is even more notorious for strict rules on pretty much everything that have allowed him to save countless lives, when you arrive in Seattle, your first impression of the city is the trees, rain, and the homeless people that often loiter by entrances to buildings begging for money or food. You wonder why House lives in a place like this and soon your cellphone buzzes with a phone call from Eric Foreman asking where you have been, you reply that you are bolting for greener pastures in Seattle, based on the swearing on the other end, you think you have made a good decision since he was the one who began the silent treatment. As you stand before Swedish Hospital, it looks like a sprawling medical complex, waiting for you to get lost in its labyrinth-like halls. You enter the halls and stand before Greg's office door, not sure what kind of impression you should make on a man you once worked for, your palms are sweaty and your knees are shaking as you work up the nerve to knock on the door to your future and hope it didn't have a dead end in it. You knock on the door and gentle voice answers "Come in, I don't have all day." You open the door and see a man hunched over his paperwork, muttering symptoms and crossing out possible diseases on a white board next to his desk filled with even more paperwork to be filled out, when he looks up, you are shocked by the fact that this is the same man that irritated you with his presence years ago and made you want to quit under his internship and this is also the same man who suffered irreparable damages to his mind and soul and this is the same man in front of you, ready to make or break your future with two words hanging on his lips, even now he seems well dressed for a man who was careless about what he wore and his black-framed eye glasses are hanging over his nose as he studies you intently with his electric blue eyes, you notice that he is a skeleton of his former self. He presses his eyeglasses up to his eyes and leans back on his swivel-chair and gestures wordlessly for you to sit. He then asks "What brings you here today?" you reply smartly "I'm here to become a surgeon for Swedish hospital and bring invaluable experience that I believe that your interns will benefit from, and to help benefit from the many great minds in this hospital and to gain experience to carry on to other hospitals as well." House eyes you intensely and replies "All right then, why do you believe that Swedish hospital has the best facilities for you to gain experience and none other?" You are taken off guard by this question because the last time he interviewed you, he never asked that question, you reply "I believe I will be able to benefit from the world renowned surgeon Dr. Hearst and best of all, none other than the world famous Dr. Gregory House and his ability to save lives like no other doctor would." You hope this is good enough, but clearly it is not when he says "I'm extremely flattered you would mention me like that, but I do seem to recall you have a personal vendetta against me, I hope this will not hinder your abilities to carry out your duties as a surgeon and doctor for the people." You are completely wiped out by this statement, it was as if he knew why you were coming here in the first place, no wonder over 70% of interviewees don't make the final cut especially with House himself running the show. You then reply "I believe that I can keep my personal and private issues separate from my duties if, and only if, you don't antagonize me." House eyes you intently and replied "I'm sure I will be the least of your problems with the board and inspectors crawling about weekly in this hospital." You are stunned and paralyzed by his words, it was as if he was trying to warn you of the implications that he was drawing from this interview and based on his facial expression, none of them are good. But somehow by some miracle he says "I'm going to give you a case and see if you can work it out for yourself." But your ego gets in the way and before you can shut your flapper, you say "I'm here to become surgeon, not diagnostician, I think I may have made that clear in my letter of intent." His eyes glint with a dark shade of blue, as if he contained secrets that he wished to share with nobody, secrets that would drive most people insane and discredit their entire lives. He then replied with a bitter chuckle "It is safe to say that as of this interview, you are still unemployed, and you came here to seek my guidance in an ironic move after five years of rejecting and ignoring my advice, and attempting to discredit my accomplishments and crowd my name with false accusations that nobody but you with your levels of stupidity could dream up." You sigh and realize that you still have one more interview left and that is in San Diego. You heave yourself up from your chair and take a last look at the depressed, angry, bitter, serious person that was left of a man who knew how to tell jokes and annoy people to simply encourage them to work hard.

After the Interview.

I was furious that Robert had the nerve to apply for my hospital and to answer the questions in such a way, I could not believe it. After he left, I hunched over my paperwork, conducting interviews here and there and accepting none of the applications of that day and solving several cases as well, I then made several phone calls to Princeton Plainsboro where strangely enough, they put me on hold, I did not have time for this kind of nonsense because, I had meetings to attend soon and I could not afford to miss them. I ate some soup for lunch and drank some water and after the hours-long meetings I was mentally and physically exhausted from all the talking and explaining of my presentations. I certainly didn't care whether or not Robert could find a job or not, his ego and stupidity cost him a high ranking position I rarely offer to many doctors, suddenly it occurred to me that my father was right on how lots of people are smart but don't apply themselves and lower their self-image and work hard to earn what they want. I returned to my office and picked up my stacks of paperwork and headed home. When I arrived to my apartment, I decided to make several phone calls to Michael Tritter, and to Lisa Cuddy and to other people in order to retrieve the device and return it to its rightful owner. Lisa responded to my call and said that the device mysteriously disappeared about two weeks after I left Princeton, which to me was a huge setback, and this news also set alarm bells ringing in my mind, knowing that there are evil people out there that want to change history for perhaps the worse. I was terrified who had the device in their hands and how were they going to use it, for good or evil purposes? I decided to take things into my hands and begin the search for the device. I knew that the search might not be easy and that I might have to prepare myself for traveling around the world, I first flew to St. Louis where Cuddy was busy as a Dean of Medicine, she said "It's nice to see you today, but what brings you here to St. Louis?" I answered "I need to find the time machine, this is of a matter we need to resolve urgently, or else things may turn catastrophic." I then added "Do you have any clues to the whereabouts of the device? Anything counts, even a shred of paper can count in this case." Cuddy then unlocked a filing cabinet drawer and pulled out a paper with scrawled handwriting written by permanent marker, this is what it said:

"To the doctors of America,

We have stolen your time machine and have disassembled it. You will never see your machine until you come to the series of coordinates. These coordinates are at world famous landmarks. If you do not search for the remains of your machine, we will destroy what remains of your machine and we will burn the invaluable notes and the mirror will be shattered and its fragments will be scattered across the world. The laptop will be hacked and we will steal your information and sell it to the highest bidder. HEED THIS WARNING OR ELSE!

Here are the coordinates, figure them out and you will win the ultimate prize, the time machine and $1 Billion dollars will be with the last component. You must find the components in the order the coordinates listed below:

The Eternal City: 41.9028° N, 12.4964° E

The Big Apple: 40.7128° N, 74.0059° W

The Forbidden City: 39.9042° N, 116.4074° E

The Aztec City: 19.4326° N, 99.1332° W

The Third Rome: 55.7558° N, 37.6173° E

The A: 33.7490° N, 84.3880° W

EGoli: 26.2041° S, 28.0473° E

La reina Del Plata: 34.6037° S, 58.3816° W

The city of lightning: 27.9506° N, 82.4572° W

The Emerald city: 47.6062° N, 122.3321° W

The Mother of cities: 50.0755° N, 14.4378° E

The Big-D: 32.7767° N, 96.7970° W

The components are hidden in plain sight and cannot be found unless you have keen wits, and keen eyesight. Good luck and may fortune smile upon you, Oh and try not to get killed.

Remember that our motto is "Knowledge is free, we are anonymous, we are legion, we do not forgive, we do not forget, Expect us. "

From the desk of Anonymous."

I felt the ground falling from below me, I couldn't believe that the time machine was stole by this shadowy group that I had no idea existed, I was furious that they had disassembled the machine like that! I was afraid that Anastasia would lose her mind if she found out about what had happened, especially when she had slaved away for years making this machine with lots of hard work and had encountered setback after setback for years especially during the theory stage. I was in a state of utter disbelief over the fact that they didn't use the machine but rather disassembled it and scattered it across the world like that. I broke the tense silence by saying "This is a letter with very heavy threats against the machine, I need to search for the components and rescue the machine before it is too late." Cuddy was speechless and didn't reply to what I had said so I put the letter in my briefcase and said my farewells to her and began my research on what was the "Eternal City". I later found out the nickname belonged to Rome, Italy and I decided to keep the coordinates on me in case if I needed them. Soon I arrived in Rome lost and alone in a country that speaks Italian. I then punched the coordinates into the GPS and rented a Vespa, which was a total rip-off and headed off into the city, the city was crowded with ruins, buildings, soccer stadiums, sky scrapers, churches, restaurants, and more ruins. I had to refer to my GPS which kept on leading me towards the center of the city, the streets were jammed with tourists wearing t-shirts and carrying flags from their respective countries, I carried an American flag and tied it around my neck while native Italians stared at me, I ignored their stares and rode on through the narrow, winding, cobblestone streets near the ancient core of Rome where a temple to Jupiter stood against the test of time. My GPS rapidly beeped, indicating that I had reached my destination, I then looked around and saw columns rising from the dirt, some columns were incomplete, and there was no roof to hold up, there was a cobblestone pathway choked with weeds that led to an incomplete set of stairs that were crumbling. I was warned by an excavation man to stay away from the temple complex because the columns could collapse at any moment and the stairs were in poor repair and then he dropped a satchel near my feet and said to pick it up and go home and then walked away. I picked up the satchel and walked away from the complex and walked to my hotel and opened the satchel, out tumbled gears, screws, tubes, pipes, blueprints, bolts, keys, wires, and plugs. A CD also tumbled out as well, I plugged into my laptop and then watched it, the man in the video was obscure and his voice was computer-altered because it sounded robotic, his face was concealed by a Guy Fawkes mask as he spoke telling me that was the beginning of my search for the time machine, and that I should make sure that I watch my back because I would not get off easy next time in the next city and all of this was set to melancholy music playing in the background as he spoke. I decided to leave Rome for New York as soon as possible, now that I had the satchel filled with parts, I wondered how I was going to explain all of this to Anastasia once I presented the remains of her hard work to her. I was so exhausted, I fell asleep on the airplane ride to New York, I dreamt that O'Brien stood in front of me, I was petrified with terror of what he was going to do to me, O'Brien said "Do you not see how futile it is to try and run? Do you not see how useless it all is to escape from the power of the omnipotent party? Our party is strong and our hands are firm, we will crush those who dare to oppose us, and in the end there will be nothing but the party and our strength will crush all resistance and all will assimilate to simply survive." His soulless eyes stared at me intensely and said "You are weak, pathetic, useless, and cowardly, you cannot face your past, you cannot dream of even meeting your former allies that have abandoned you, you can't escape your past and you never will." He strode from side to side as if he were pacing and then said in a low, ugly whisper into my ear "Time is power, God is power, money is power, and corruption is power." I was shaking all over and sweating when I woke up from the nightmare, I wanted to scream but I clamped my mouth shut out respect of the sleeping passengers on the airplane with me. It was already 7:35 AM Eastern time and the plane was landing in New York, I then got up from my seat and left the airport, I was tired and I wanted to sleep but at the same time I didn't want to meet O'Brien in my dreams, I hailed a taxi cab and punched in the coordinates for New York and then I was off to see the city. There were tourists jamming the streets as well as yellow taxi cabs were everywhere, I saw metropolitan buildings everywhere and skyscrapers were rising towards the skyline, I craned my neck upwards to see orange cranes holding trusses and girders to construction sites where more skyscrapers were under construction, I then navigated the sidewalks filled with even more tourists and remembered that each of the components were supposed to be in world famous landmarks so I assumed this meant I would need to meet my contact at the statue of liberty. I was nervous and fearful when I thought of the words the masked man said in the video about my journey being harder than I thought. I then boarded a barge and suddenly, a man held a camera and shouted "Doctor, will you take a photo of me and my wife?" I had no reason to say no, so I took the picture and suddenly a jolt brought back everyone's attention as they chatted and relaxed. I was fearful of what to find at the statue of liberty and who would be there to meet me, the barge began to move through the water swiftly and silently, but the engine was noisy so people had to shout in order to be heard. Soon we arrived at the docks of the statue of liberty and I had tickets to enter the statue, so I had no problem entering the statue. When I entered the crown I could practically see everything from the Chrysler building to New York harbor, there was water everywhere I saw, and a custodian tossed a knapsack to me and said to pick it up and to go home, now that I had what I was after, I picked up the knapsack and left the statue and returned to my hotel. I opened the satchel and out tumbled more parts and components and bulbs and even more parts and gears and even more blueprints. I realized that this was a wild worldwide chase for the lost time machine, a chase that would not end until I said it was done and finished. I then pulled out the letter from my jacket pocket and crossed out the first two cities I had visited so far in my journey around the world, I silently thought 'Rome, check New York, check, next is The Forbidden City, wherever that is.' I decided to take a hiatus from the journey and return to Seattle the next day in order to make the appointment and then resume my journey. It was the next day I found out that I needed to head to Beijing to retrieve the device, I cancelled my appointment and decided to resume my journey. I also took extended leave so I didn't get fired while I was I away, I decided to put Vice Dean of Medicine Dr. James Meredith in charge while I was gone, so things didn't get out of hand while I was putting the pieces together to this unique mystery. I arrived in Beijing the next afternoon, I was exhausted and my body was screaming for sleep but I was not going to fall asleep when the world was at stake, I got a taxi and pored over a map written Chinese and punched in the coordinates into my GPS and began to ride near the center of the city, where pollution, people, and pictures of Mao where everywhere, there were vendors hawking produce ranging from the mundane to the downright bizarre, I even saw a man selling fried scorpions! There were also people riding bicycles carrying raw materials on their backs to factories miles away. I then saw a library and decided to enter, when I was inside I saw rows and rows and rows of bookcases lined with books and more books, there were some Chinese contemporary art hanging on hooks from the ceiling and there were Ming dynasty era vases in display cases lining the hallway that adjoined to the art museum to the far right, the library was clean, sleek and very contemporary and extremely quiet. I realized that this was where I was supposed to meet my contact, but no contact ever came and it suddenly hit me that I needed to look for the objects and I thought 'I need to look in the books, maybe the object is a book or perhaps a journal, I need to hurry or the library will close' I then scanned the books, looking for anything out of the ordinary through the shelves, I finally found a journal with Anastasia's name on the cover, I picked it up and asked the librarian if the journal belonged to the library, he said no and said I could take it home if I wanted it. I then boarded my plane and waited for takeoff when I received a phone call from Dr. Robert Chase saying that a week after he got a job in a hospital in San Diego, Dr. Lisa Cuddy was involved in a car crash, and she was okay but her car was totaled, and she was shaken up from the accident. I was glad she was okay because I couldn't be there for her in case if she was badly injured, I asked Chase when was she going to be discharged, he replied "Tomorrow morning, why?" "Because I have the right to know" I replied evenly and when he began to protest, I hung up and fell asleep. I woke up realizing that the airplane was landing in Mexico City, which my earlier research had indicated, this would be the city where I would find more components. I then found Anastasia's laptop in a soccer stadium. I knew my search would be difficult, but why did Anastasia deserve to lose her hard earned work and why did I deserve to be punished this way wandering the remnants of glorious Earth?

One Week Later in Seattle, Washington.

I was back at work and schedules were back to normal, I was back to managing doctors and diagnosing the difficult to diagnose and hobnobbing with investors and lawmakers in order to persuade them to fund projects and researches that my hospital was working on. I remembered how unhappy and depressed and hurt Anastasia looked when she saw the remnants of her project and millions of dollars gone down the drain after years of careful saving, I could even see tears in her eyes as she saw the wreckage of her efforts to make the impossible, possible. I could see her shoulders shaking as she sobbed quietly while covering her face. While I was wrapping up my completions of my paperwork in my office, Dr. Houdini walked in smiling with restrained excitement, I could tell he was very happy about something. He then broke the silence by saying "As you know how my fellowship ended a week ago, I applied for the Seahawks in order to be their doctor, the NFL interviewed me and they have accepted me to be the doctor for the Seattle Seahawks, and because of that, I will no longer be working here, I also have my resignation letter with me, I will leave it with you so you can accept my resignation, so I can leave and make a new path for myself." I replied coolly "I accept your resignation, I wish you all the best in your new future, and I hope you will become a successful doctor for your favorite team, good luck and good bye Dr. Kagawa Houdini, you may leave." We both stood up and shook hands firmly like businessmen and that was the last I saw of Dr. Houdini in person, I would see him on television giving medical aid to injured players, but we never met or saw or spoke to one another again until I attended his funeral after he was murdered five years after he left for the Seahawks. I then finished three more cases and decided to call it a day and return home as it was 10:00 PM and I was tired and I didn't want to compromise the quality of my work through lack of sleep. When I returned home, I was exhausted to the core because of all the work and paperwork I had completed through the day, I had even forgotten to eat dinner in my exhaustion, so I decided to crash the hay and get some shut eye before I regretted it tomorrow. I woke up the next day, feeling tired (as always) and decided to eat toast and milk and rode my Corvette to work where more work was awaiting me. I felt bitter and defeated and I didn't want to live but I had to go to work and I had patients to save, I had to keep fighting against my inner demons, but for how long must I remain strong? For how long must I keep fighting until I lose the battle against depression? For how long must I keep running from the past until it catches up to me? For how long am I going to stay strong until the burden of responsibilities crushes me and breaks my back? I will never have the answers to the questions racing through my mind, but I am going to face up to my life day, by day and I will work hard to earn what I deserve in my life. I finally arrived at the hospital and did my daily rounds of inspecting before getting down to business by checking my Emails, when I found out I would be keynote speaker at Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America in Princeton University. Those words sent shivers down my spine as I responded to the Email that I would be coming, my mind was screaming for me to decline the invitation, but my fingers kept typing the response that I would be there ASAP when needed, it was so unreal and I wanted to scream, but it was too late, I had already sent the reply before I could delete the draft. I slammed my laptop shut out of frustration that my fingers had betrayed me and had cost me my attempt to stay away from Princeton at all costs, I then put on my eye glasses and decided to analyze the stacks of paperwork I needed to fill out and send to the board. I also then began and finished a case, which held no difficulty to my nimble mind, then the next day I set out to make the journey from Seattle to Princeton by motorcycle just for the sake of seeing the scenery since the convention would be on Friday and it was Tuesday, so I had enough time to get there in time, the scenery along the way was gorgeous especially along the way in Idaho and Montana, but the traffic in South Dakota was the worst traffic, I soon arrived at the University, the building was ancient in appearance and had the theme of castles and statues all about, there were ivy plants climbing the stone walls and there were smooth polished pathways leading up to the entrances of the University, there were students gathered in clusters reading books, talking, walking, looking at smartphones, or just simply sitting around waiting for the bell to ring for their classes to begin, some were wearing their graduation gowns and carrying their degrees in hand while others sat alone and did their homework, so in other words, it was business as usual. I sighed and remembered my graduation day from Columbia University, my mother was as proud as any other mother was of her son who would become a doctor, my father was disappointed that I hadn't become a marine, but honestly, killing people was not in my heart and I didn't support the fact that he went to Vietnam and shot innocent people for the sake of hunting down the Viet Cong, but what was even worse was that my father was not at my graduation or at the party, and he didn't even congratulate me on my hard work or even said "Good Job, Gregory" even once when I left for Johns Hopkins Medical School, I felt alone in the huge crowd of strangers, taking selfies, celebrating, smiling, dancing, tossing graduation caps, and hugging parents and significant others. When my mother died while I was in medical school, it was the worst day of life, I felt the world crushing down on my shoulders in grief and guilt. When I graduated from medical school, nobody celebrated my accomplishment or even congratulated me that day, it was then I realized nobody gives a damn about your achievements or even cares about your sacrifices and people will take what you give them for granted and will forget the effort that goes into what you do, I remembered how nobody even bothered to attend my white coat ceremony or the swearing in ceremony, and at that moment the ringing of the bell shattered my reverie and I quickly made my way to the auditorium and quickly began to arrange my notes and speech on the lectern where there were medical students and doctors and interns were there as well. My knees shook out of nervousness, and my nerves were frayed but I vowed to clamp down on the impeding panic within my mind. President Obama was there with secret service bodyguards everywhere around him, I shook hands with him and told him that it was an honor to see him here and to speak to such a wise and kind president. I then saw the auditorium crowded with all sorts of people from different walks of life, some were young medical students beginning their first steps into medicine while others like me were steeped in decades of experience and some were relative unknowns while others like me were world famous, I walked up to the auditorium and spoke about how it was an honor to be invited to the convention, and I spoke about how we were at a critical juncture in healthcare and medicine and criticized the lack of funds towards mental health care and then spoke about the new speakers and their backgrounds and introduced a Nephrologist and then took my seat in the audience pit. After the convention I decided to drive home through the night, the rain was falling rapidly and soon I came at an intersection and when my light turned green, I eased my motorcycle forward and suddenly when I looked to my right while crossing, I saw a silver colored SUV running the red light and it smashed into my right side like a train running over a person, I blacked out during the impact and when I woke up, I saw a puddle of blood around my body, my legs felt numb and my neck hurt, everything was blurry, the haze of voices surrounded me, comforted me and I felt like throwing up, my body was hurting like hell and I needed to dial 911 but the fog was enveloping me, surrounding me, dragging me in, I was struggling to stay conscious, I saw my phone several feet in front of me, I wanted to get the phone but in my condition, it might as well have been several miles away for all I could care, when I turned over, pain coursed through my body like fire, I screamed in agony, a migraine from the aftereffects of the concussion ravaged through my brain, I knew I was probably internally bleeding as well, I knew I had at least two broken ribs and multiple lacerations as well, I knew that if I fell asleep, I might not wake up again, I had to keep myself awake, but how? I then looked around for the driver, but he was long gone and the rain was mixing with my blood and cuts, potentially infecting me. I groaned "Ohhhhh…Help meee, anybody" the pain in my chest was excruciating and reminded me of the time O'Brien's bodyguards beat me with a gun on my chest and back, I knew I was going to have tons of bruises once my ordeal was over. I screamed for anybody to help me, every single minute felt like an hour, until a car drove over and halted before my broken body, the doors opened and a couple came out and knelt and said, "Sir are you ok?" I moaned and the man pulled out a phone and dialed 911 and asked me to stay conscious, but I lost the battle and I lost consciousness.

You are Allison Cameron

Ever since Gregory House quit and walked out of your life you were no longer a diagnostician but an ER doctor, some days are easier than others, but you enjoy your new job but it is exhausting since you switched to night shift ER duties, it has been nearly two years since you began work in Princeton General and Dr. Gregory left for Seattle, you heard he became the Dean of Medicine, which made you slightly jealous because you have been working your entire life to get recognition for what you do, but over the months your jealousy faded and you became entirely focused on work, family and life. But today when you scrub down and wear your scrubs under your lab coat, the ER is a general chaos with doctors buzzing and surrounding a man, you can't quite tell who he is, but when you see him, the ground falls from below you and you scream "This is House, Dr. Gregory House" and your boss Dr. Antonio Hartwell says "This man is a John Doe, do you know him?" Before you can respond, a New Jersey state trooper confirms "We have recovered his ID, it says he is a Washington resident and his name is Gregory House." Then you realize the gravity of the situation and someone shouts "He isn't responding to painful stimuli, he is a four on the Glasgow coma scale." Then the head of the ER comes in and begins to assess the damages, and it is nothing short of horrific to you and then the state trooper says to pretty much everyone "He was the victim of a hit and run accident, we are investigating the accident, please do not hesitate to let us know if you know who was involved in this incident." All of the doctors acknowledge this solemnly and soon the head says, "He needs emergency surgery, the head of surgery Dr. Wilkinson will lead the operation." Your knees are shaking and you sit down to calm down your nerves when your boss says "You seemed to recognize him, why?" "We were colleagues until he resigned and became the Dean of Medicine in Swedish hospital" you explain, then after nearly eight hours of surgery, Gregory House is alive but he needs to wake up.

Afterwards.

At first when I woke up, pain enveloped me everywhere, it was just me and my pain, I was choking on the tube that helped me breathe when a doctor came over and pulled the tube out of my mouth and I calmed down. The doctor introduced himself as Dr. David Wilkinson the head of surgery and then told me the full extent of my injuries, I had broken my arm in two different places, had internal bleeding in my chest, broken five ribs and fractured three more, my legs were also crushed and I had spinal fractures that would render me in back pain for the rest of my life. He also said that I woke up after three weeks in a coma and he would get a Neurologist to conduct the neuro checks to check for brain damage. I was looking around, taking in my surroundings, one by one as I remembered the accident and I inquired "Where am I?" and then I realized I was still in Princeton. It took me nearly two months to recover and recuperate from the injuries and soon I returned to Seattle and at that moment when I least expected it, Dr. Eric Neville Foreman was waiting for me, Foreman said "I'm very sorry for my behavior in Christchurch, I will never do this again, please forgive me Dr. House." I was so pissed off at Eric that I shouted "Just who do you think you are? You blamed me for the death of James which was obviously out of my control, you made me look like an ass in front of the congressmen and women of Maryland and Washington, and you actually expect me to forgive you for your stupidity! Did you know that because of your 'help', several deals have been called off and now I need to renegotiate with the donors AND I need try to apologize to John Key for our fallout in the university, and also I don't know why you decided to pay me a visit, but you have obviously wasted my time and money in speaking to you, you have not only embarrassed me but also made me look like a weak fool, I can't believe you actually have worked up the courage to even speak to me! Obviously you have no respect for my time, please leave before I call security to escort you out of my office." His shoulders seemed to slump in defeat as he left my office. I sat on my leather padded swivel chair and sighed and rubbed my forehead. I then stared at myself in the mirror and saw a man changed by time and torture, the life in my blue eyes long dead and dull, my black hair changed into white peppered with gray and a once smiling face now lined with bitterness and anger.

Flashback to thirty years ago.

I wake up in my college dorm busy with homework and packing up stuff since I am graduating and my mother will want to stay the night here in Columbia University. I know that dad hasn't spoken to me since five years ago when we argued at my high school party because he wanted to continue the family tradition of sending sons to the military and daughters to college, but that plan was permanently cancelled when my sister Amber was killed by a drunk driver on her way home from high school and I was adamant in refusing to go to the military for the fact that I was an absolute coward and I hated guns because my friend Jarret DuBois was obsessed with guns and it made him an angry, violent man who eventually was arrested and still serving a forty year sentence for armed robbery and ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to be a doctor and save lives as many as possible, mostly in part of my father's stories of him shooting innocent people. I refused to bow down in my argument that day and our relationship paid the price. I began to set out to prove to my dad that I didn't need him and I wasn't a nameless, faceless person for the enemy to shoot down. I took tests and received enough scholarships and grants to pay for tuition and for living expenses, I even managed to get an acceptance letter from Columbia University and that made mom so happy, I tried my best to be happy for her sake, but deeply inside, I was disappointed I didn't make Harvard or Princeton since those two were my dream colleges and I knew dad had to be proud if I made Harvard, dad gave me a silent treatment that was so bad I crashed at my dorm two weeks early and unpacked my boxes and asked for early homework before school started, my medicine and anesthesia teacher was more than happy to do so. Even now as I think and sort out the garbage from stuff I'll keep and then wear my ironed suit and the graduation gown on top I feel like as if I should have listened to my dad and joined the army so he would be happy and would speak of how proud he would be of me, but I left for college because that was my willful decision and I cannot, no I will not look back ever again and regret the decision to become a doctor, to save lives and to estrange my father in the process.

End Flashback.

As I continue working through the night on several cases, I receive a phone call from Foreman but I ignore it, the phone rings several times and I finally pick and hiss an a escalating voice "Can't you get the hint that I can never forgive you for what you have done to me and my reputation, I don't want to see, hear or look at you!" Foreman protests by saying "But-"and I cut him off by saying "Back off or else I will call the cops to arrest you, and that would look ugly on your resume wouldn't it?" I turn off the phone and press my eye glasses to the bridge of my nose and keep typing in financial reports for the year and wrap up my safety and fatality reports and then I pack up my papers and I return to my apartment only to find that I had forgotten my cell phone in my office and I realized I needed to return to the hospital to pick it up. I drove to my office and as I unlocked my door, I turned around and saw Lisa Cuddy, my heart sped up a little and I remembered how I tried to earn her love through saving lives many years ago as an intern, but she rejected me and my heart and married Dr. Michael Varo the radiology specialist, I gave up on her and continued my career as a doctor even though deep in my heart to this day, it still hurt to be rejected like that and I knew I would be the one who would be loyal to her in the end, as I tried remember how to speak, Cuddy curtly interrupted my thoughts and said "I have missed you ever since you quit at Princeton and left, I wanted to just see how you were doing, and it seems you are doing well." I pressed my eye glasses up my nose bridge and sighed, my tears were rimming my eyes as I felt like this was a blast from the past and how Tritter was right, I wanted to speak but my throat was choked by so many memories flooding my mind and suddenly before she could turn around and leave, I choked out "I'm not fine, I'm tired and I'm depressed ever since Wilson's funeral and I am too busy to notice because I have what is called responsibilities" Cuddy shot back "I can see you are sicker than ever physically but you still haven't changed, have you?" and like that she stormed off and I entered my office and thought bitterly on how I was destined to be alone and I picked up my cell phone and realized I missed five phone calls from the board of medicine, I personally planned to return those calls and as I left the building, I passed by Cuddy but neither of us spoke or acknowledged each other in any way, the chilly air bit into my skin and I pulled my lab coat around me tighter and drove my corvette home, I resented the fact that Cuddy had left me unable to respond or defend myself and I was angry over the fact she even came based on how she even spoke to me. As I unlocked my door and entered my apartment, I stared at the floor where the remains of a shattered vase once lay because Wilson had smashed my glass vase in his panic to leave my house, I thought of memories I wished to forget, and most of all, the memory of my worst argument with my father. I have not spoken with my father since our argument at my college party, we didn't even speak to each other even at my mother's funeral, it has been nearly thirty-one years since we were no longer on speaking terms. Even now as I lay in my bed thinking, I wish my father had acknowledged me and said that he was proud of me, I still want his approval and his forgiveness but even now I wonder if he is even still alive. I was so sleepless over that thought, I had not slept all night turning my thoughts over and over in my mind, after all my life was a series of failures one after another: I could not protect my younger sister from her killer, I could not save my mother from her illness, I could not stop the hatred from taking over my father's mind, I was rejected by Dr. Cuddy, bullied by O'Brien, I could not save my friend from being run over, and I couldn't save Anastasia from losing her mind, the latter of the two being the worst of my failures. I realized one thing had defined my past: failiure. Sometimes they threaten you with something - something you can't stand up to, can't even think about. And then you say, "Don't do it to me, do it to somebody else, do it to So-and-so." And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn't mean it. But that isn't true. At the time when it happens you do mean it. You think there's no other way of saving yourself, and you're quite ready to save yourself that way. You WANT it to happen to the other person. You don't give a damn what they suffer. All you care is yourself. You only want to live because you are a coward towards death. You are afraid of facing your broken dreams and the silenced screams. Sometimes when your willpower crumbles and gives way, it reveals a nervous wreck liable for any thought to turn into action. Suddenly a voice rung in my head, it was O'Brien's voice taunting me "We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them." It was true that I had changed since my imprisonment two years ago, and then I suddenly realized, that through my battles, O'Brien and Big brother were the true winners, they succeeded in destroying and changing me, they won in playing mind games, they gained success in destroying my ability to think rationally and getting to my head when it mattered most. As I carried my poster boards into the corvette for a presentation, my phone was ringing, it was Dr. Martha Masters and she was calling me from the Miami University medical center. As I picked up I could hear unintelligible sounds, somebody was shouting "Get her down, get her down, hold on tight, the Mirror's turned on again!" I dropped my boards and quickly recorded the phone conversation, and then Martha's phone cut out as I screamed for anyone to answer me. I quickly had the Vice dean on speed dial and had him in charge of things until I returned from an emergency. I quickly bought a round trip ticket to Miami, and I landed there for the second time, but this was an emergency reason, based on the screams on the other end, the Ersed mirror re-activated and this time, I knew it was going to kill someone it sucked into its fragments because the mirror was still unstable and the ionic energy could destroy and alter the atomic structure of anything that would be sucked into the mirror, I wanted to stop the mess I had created in part because of my ambitions and Anastasia's insistence before it cost anyone their lives, I knew it was the right thing to do even if it meant I would never return alive from Miami, I sighed and thought of every scenario that would run through my mind, best-case, I would be sucked through the mirror a bunch of glass would rip through me and then eject me through the mirror and I would slowly, but surely bleed to death. Worst-case, I would be torn apart by the time-winds that would rip through any intruder and I would be a dead mess for the aliens to clean up, I arrived at the hospital with a bunch of policemen, soldiers, SWAT agents and more surrounding the giant facility with red and yellow tape, there were national guardsmen holding the crowd at bay using riot shields, a guardsman in charge shouted into the bullhorn that anyone crossing the tape would be perceived as a threat and would be shot, there were stormy clouds bursting with lightning, striking the ground and telephone poles, heavy rain poured and struck me like bullets, soaking me clear through my lab coat and my suit, reminding me that I should have worn my poncho before I came to Miami, I shivered and stared at the state of chaos of the hospital, I could hear screams of the dying and came to the realization that I was too late once again, as the rain collected on the lenses of my glasses, a bloodied Martha Masters stumbled over and collapsed in front of me, I gasped and I leaned over and I burst out "Martha! What happened?" I carefully turned her over, and checked her pulse, it was shallow and rapid, which was never a good sign, Martha's face was filled with scratches as if they were caused by glass, her body was filled with glass protruding through her skin, the blood began to puddle around me, I knew she was done for, but I had to try and save her life, Martha was gasping for air as she said "Mirror is on" and I realized my worst fears had come true, I quickly wrapped as many of her injuries as I could and I quickly got her a paramedic to attend to her, I ducked under the tape through the south wing where nobody seemed to be watching, I ran through the eerily silent, empty hallways, I even cut through some ICU rooms which were evacuated and were empty of everything, including machinery, doctors and policemen, I tripped on a IV drip and my bad shoulder slammed on the floor causing me excruciating pain, my lab coat fluttered behind me as I ran through the radiology rooms which still held their machinery, apparently they were too heavy to move, I then ran through an abandoned operation room, its lights still on, apparently the surgeons left in a panic, even the observation deck was deserted, the operation room had surgery tools scattered all over the place, this was absolutely unheard of, a mass evacuation like that, I could not remember the last time I had to participate in a mass evacuation, I paused as I looked at the clinic rooms, I stumbled as a flashback induced migraine struck me and I suddenly began to remember how I used to hate my clinic hours and I would do anything to get out of them, I almost passed out as a wave of dizziness washed over me, I forced my legs to keep running and I passed through the standard post op rooms as well as the rehab rooms. I shivered as I halted before the double doors to the Psych wing and took a deep breath and then flung them wide open and stared aghast at what was happening in the ward, the mirror's frame glowed neon blue, the gap in the middle of the mirror was the height and width of me, the fragments of the shattered mirror seemed to hang in midair as they slowly seemed to turn in midair and reflect scenes from my past as the shards of the mirror flew past me: me moving to Princeton, New Jersey from New York, me graduating from high school, my sister's funeral, my argument with my dad, me at my mother's funeral, me being sworn in as a full-fledged doctor, the white coat ceremony, me being interviewed by my first hospital, me being sucked into the mirror, me being tortured in the Ministry of Love, and me screaming Wilson's name. I forced my legs to move, sweat beaded at my neck, my heart beat rapidly, the machines were shaking furiously, I thought it would explode any moment as a portal opened and I could hear countless screams of the dying, the wounded, those who were getting murdered, these were screams that had been eventually silenced through death, Of all the things I have heard, of all the things I have seen, and all the places I have been and the eras I have traveled to, there has been only one constant; War. War is a battle waged against oneself to uphold something, whether it be honor, legitimacy, or one existence, we are readily able to risk everything but when we look back on our actions, we don't always look back with the pride we had intended to finish the war with. I took a deep breath and realized my life was a complete waste of time and resources, James Wilson was dead, my sister was dead, my mother was dead, Dr. Nakamura was dead, murdered in an armed robbery that killed his entire family as well, Everyone I knew or cared about walked out of my life, but they hesitated long enough to hear me cry out their names, one last time before they died, I burst into tears at that thought and jumped into the portal, all I knew for all I cared that I had lost and I was happy and everything ended from there. The fragments ripped through my body, blood gushed through my wounds and just as quickly as it started; I was ejected from the mirror, as blood stained my suit, my lab coat was soaked in my blood. I knew several arteries had been severed, there was nobody the room to save me, even if there was anyone there, I would still die anyway, my hands were trembling at the thought of that, I groaned in pain as I stared at the ceiling, gasping for breath as the blood puddled around me, as I slightly lifted my head, the computer exploded in a fireball and the mirror completely imploded from the inside out, showering sparks, fire, and glass everywhere and, I hoped nobody else was hurt when the device had activated, I knew there were going to be fatalities because of the mess the Mirror made, I knew that the Mirror had been permanently deactivated because I interrupted the ionic energy cycle and prevented it from ripping open any new portals to any new alternate universes, I was happy that I had prevented a major catastrophe from occurring, another explosion rocked the building as the oxygen tanks exploded, causing plaster to rain on top of me, chunks of sheet rock crumbled and shattered on impact on the floor, there was a web of cracks radiating from the center of the ceiling, the floor was shaking wildly, I was gasping and heaving, I could feel blood rising through my throat and I vomited all over my suit, shirt and I peppered my white lab coat with crimson blood, my stethoscope clattered to the ground as I turned over on my left side and I noticed blood was trailing down the side of my mouth, I knew the end was coming and this time I was prepared.

Gregory's story has come to a close, Michael Tritter's story has just begun.

Interviewer: Mr. Tritter can you describe what was the scene at the Miami University Medical Center? Can you describe the rescue operations that are undergoing regarding for survivors?

Michael Tritter: The scene was absolute utter chaos, there was pandemonium everywhere, and doctors were evacuating patients as quickly as possible, as for the families of the patients, I am aware they have been notified where their relative has been relocated, often to the nearest hospital by ambulance. Rescue operations will begin as soon as possible for search and rescue operators when it is safe for them to enter.

Tritter had no time for the reporter, he quickly cut off the reporter and ran to the scene, he had reports that the northeastern wing collapsed because of an explosion, as he dashed to the scene, he watched in horror, as fires were being put out, as the wreckage was being sifted and collected, he saw a body of a man being pulled out and the investigators were already on the scene, the man's body was being wrapped and taken away, he watched before he had to begin collecting evidence for investigation by the FBI, Tritter quickly began to collect shards of glass, fragments of metal, and he suddenly stopped when he saw Gregory's ID badge and stethoscope amongst the debris, Tritter remembered that Greg had to be busy at work. But why was his work badge here, Tritter wondered. After Tritter's shift ended nearly ten hours later, Tritter began to call Greg but his phone went unanswered, Tritter knew Greg had a nasty habit of picking up the phone wherever he was, in fact Greg was kicked out of church one time because of a business call, after that Greg never returned to church ever in his life. Suddenly someone said "swab the blood stains and tape up the place, it's now a crime scene as far as we are aware." Tritter complied and helped with the swabbing of the blood and the fingerprints, he collected oxygen bottles and turned them in as evidence, that evening, his cousin Jerry from Seattle who worked with Greg as the Vice-Dean of finances called in and said that Greg had the Vice-Dean of medicine deliver the presentation, as for Greg himself, he was nowhere to be seen in Seattle and the administrators were frantically searching for Greg, in order to speak about the presentation to him. Tritter knew something was going on and he knew when his cousin was scared, and Jerry sounded absolutely terrified of what was going on, Tritter asked Jerry if he was hiding anything, Jerry replied no but with a slight quiver in his voice. Michael knew something was going on and suddenly he had another phone call coming in from the FBI saying that they had identified the body of the man as Dr. Gregory House and they were trying to notify him as he was the next family member of Greg. Tritter's hands shook and his eyes filled with tears, Tritter's throat felt like it was choking with grief, his knees gave way and he began to let out a ugly sobbing for his dead cousin Greg, Tritter couldn't hold back the emotion of losing his cousin, tears were streaming down his face, despite being a man and being a twenty year veteran detective, Tritter still couldn't handle the emotions that were overwhelming him, his heart felt like it was breaking and a part of him had died with his cousin, he buried his face in his hands and cried out his heart, his tears streaked his face as he tried to work up the courage to call Jerry to tell the board that Greg would never be able to make it because he was dead in a morgue awaiting burial. Michael's fingers sped dialed Jerry's phone number but deep inside, Tritter felt apprehensive breaking the news but he knew he had to do this. When Jerry picked up the phone, Tritter took a deep breath and said "Jerry, we need to talk." Tritter's tone was so serious it even surprised himself how much he had changed. Jerry knew what Tritter was going to talk about and suddenly Tritter broke the silence by saying "I got a phone call from the FBI saying our cousin Greg is dead, the coroner is working on an autopsy report, now we need to get Greg back home to Seattle and begin funeral prep for him." Tritter could hear sobbing on the other end of the line, he didn't blame Jerry for crying, and the news hit them like a truck running over a pedestrian. Tritter knew his cousin was in no condition to prepare anything whatsoever and then he said "Jerry get me the phone numbers of the board of medicine, finance, safety, and patient relations and any other deans as well for Broadview hospital, I need to talk to them all and break the news to them, get the rest of our cousins and your parents in the loop of what's going on and don't forget to get your in-laws informed as well." Jerry could only muster "Ok, let's get this over with." The next day Tritter flew to Seattle and Jerry greeted him at the hospital, both men were wearing black suits under their rain-soaked black overcoats, Tritter noticed there was a steely glint in Jerry's eyes but his face was filled with stunned shock, both men locked eyes on each other and they seemed to know that the other man was thinking that 'This is the hardest thing I have ever done, I might as well as get it over with' both men swung forward the double doors leading to the conference room where the Dean of safety Dr. Colonel Hazard, the Dean of Patient relations Dr. Roman Hartwell, The Dean of security Max Needham, the Dean of finances Veera Smith, the Vice-Dean of medicine Dr. Jason Mills as well as the other Vice Deans were sitting in their respective positions, the council members eyes were trained on the empty chair at the head of the table wondering where the Dean of medicine was, not knowing that the Dean of medicine was dead in Miami or the fact that his weeping cousins would have to deliver the awful news to them. Jerry sat down in his normal position near the bottom of the table while Tritter stood in front of the empty chair and gripped the back and took a deep breath and began by saying "My name is Michael Tritter and I am an officer for the FBI, I have awful news to share with you regarding the disappearance of the Dean of medicine Dr. Gregory House, I am sure you are wondering by this time where is Dr. Gregory and why I am here, it is for a simple reason" Tritter paused to gather his thoughts and then continued by saying "It is that Dr. Gregory House is dead, he was killed in the explosion that occurred in the Miami university medical center yesterday at 10:30 A.M his body was recovered from the rubble of the collapsed Northeastern wing and his body is undergoing an autopsy at this moment, his funeral will be held as soon as his autopsy is complete, if you have any questions, please give me a call." The other deans looked on in horror as Tritter finished his statement before the council of deans, Veera quietly sobbed and reached for the tissue paper box while Hazard said "How do we know this is the truth and you aren't lying?" Tritter replied tensely "Because I am Dr. Gregory's cousin and I received the phone call from FBI, if you want evidence, you are more than welcome to come with me to Miami where his body is in a morgue." Hazard looked down in embarrassment while Max asked "What was Greg doing there in the first place anyway?" Tritter admitted "As for that I don't know, as far as my investigation is leading me, he never told anyone his reasons of going to Miami, I'm still trying to find out why he went Miami in the first place." Roman looked like he was on the verge of tears as he tried to find his voice, Jason had important info he knew Tritter would need, but Jason remained silent during the meeting. The silence was broken by sniffles and quiet sobbing, tears were pouring down the faces of the deans as they tried to grapple with the death of their co-worker, Hazard took a deep breath and said "We need our privacy so we can make a decision to make a replacement for Dr. Gregory" whatever they were going to decide, Tritter didn't care, he stormed out of the conference room and thought bitterly 'Is this the incompetent board of deans that Greg seemed to be complaining about in his final days? These morons don't even know how to run their divisions much less the entire hospital!' Meanwhile in the conference room, a nervous Jason knew he was good at being a subordinate but Jason was afraid of being thrust into the spotlight or being a leader, he resented the fact that he would have no choice but to accept the position because he risked losing his precarious, but powerless position at the top inner circle if he refused, to confirm Jason's suspicions when the rest of the board left the conference room, Hazard strode towards Jason with his hands on his hips, Colonel spoke and said "Dr. Jason Mills, this is your golden opportunity to become powerful, rich, famous, influential, I believe this is an opportunity not to pass up on if I was in your position, I would not dare squander an opportunity like this to meet with world famous doctors and you can boast of how you were tutored by Dr. Gregory" Colonel continued "You can earn something you have always failed to earn, respect, power, wealth." Hazard then placed his hands on Mills' shoulders and added "remember Jason, I was the one who pulled the strings and convinced Greg to hire you, did you know what he originally thought of you?" Jason was mystified and then Hazard interrupted Jason's thoughts and said "Greg told me that you were a useless piece of scum and he had no need for newbies like you, he actually demanded me to find someone more experience but I told him to either take you in or leave you out, but I would not assist him any further in his search for a Vice Dean if he wasn't going to give you a chance. _I_ was the one who advanced your career and pressured Greg into accepting you." Hazard's eyes hungrily stared at the contract that would seal Jason's fate as a Dean and then he looked Jason in the eyes and said "Either you side with me, sign the contract and earn everything you have ever dreamed of, or you can refuse the contract and suffer the consequences and have me get you fired, it's your choice you know." Then Hazard picked up the contract which was in a leather bound file and had an ivory and gold filigree pen neatly tucked in a holder and concluded "I don't want to pressure you into making the decision, however the deal comes off the table if you take too long, you must make your decision within a week from now, remember what I said about the deal and also if you breathe a word of this to anyone, I will personally tear this contract in your face and I _will definitely_ have you fired, Good day Dr. Jason Mills" Hazard wordlessly handed the folder to Mills and Jason gripped the folder firmly, but completely stunned, he had no words to lash out with, he couldn't respond as Hazard swung open the conference room door and left Jason alone in an empty conference room. Meanwhile two weeping cousins had received the autopsy results and the results were shocking, Tritter and Jerry were dumbfounded when they read the death certificate and the autopsy results, but now was not the time to think about how Greg died, it was time to bury him in Seattle. The rain drenched everyone who attended including Cuddy who had come from St. Louis and had heard the news from her Vice dean of finances, tears quietly streaked down the faces of Greg's former co-workers as they attended his funeral, Robert had flown in from San Diego and was silently brooding over how difficult the years had been, yet Greg never seemed to waver in his devotion for the love of medicine, first they saw James get buried and now it was Greg's turn to be buried as well. Tears were flowing freely as the burial concluded, the atmosphere was grim and grief stricken, a few people dared to speak at the podium, but otherwise the people remained dead silent and mentally recited prayers for Greg and his cousins who were completely distraught, the deans and vice-deans attended as well, but they knew it was just a mere formality and were not by any circumstance bound to care for the well-being of Greg's next of kin, Jason felt pity for Greg, he had no one to stand with him, and as a result he died alone. Cuddy was thinking of how she had broken Greg's heart and had told him how much she had hated him, she wondered if he still thought of that day when he died, she silently lamented that she could never apologize for her own words now that Greg was dead. After the funeral, Jason was weighing a heavy decision in his mind, he was completely nervous, he knew he had only three hours and twenty-five minutes to make a decision, he took a deep breath and tried to weigh the pros and cons once more in his mind and stood up and thought aloud "This is it, I can't screw this up" Jason's fingers trembled as he opened the folder containing the contract, the bold words stood out in front of his eyes and he pulled out his white framed glasses and carefully read through all the clauses and sub-clauses and decided "This is the turning point, there will be no looking back after this." Jason pulled the pen from the holder and signed his full name with curly, elegant and flowing script. Jason snapped the folder shut and stood up and opened the door, there he saw Colonel Hazard was waiting for him, Jason stood behind the empty chair at the head and announced "I have made my decision, it was not easy, but I have decided to accept the offer to become Broadview's Dean of Medicine" Hazard smirked knowing that Jason would be under his thumb, all he had to do was to control him using fear, fear is a weapon that can disarm even the finest of minds and force them into a corner, all you need to do is attack their soft spots and you can easily kill and maim their intentions and plans using fear as a tool and as a psychological weapon, all you have to do is to weaken their defenses until they are defenseless before your rhetoric. Hazard slightly chuckled, thinking 'Mission accomplished' and then he replied to Jason coolly "I will sign my name and serve as a witness, hand over the folder Dr. Jason, time is wasting, you don't want to spoil your golden opportunity, do you?" Jason numbly handed the folder to Hazard who had swiped it from Jason's hand and quickly scrawled his name and shut the folder and continued coldly "Congratulations, Dean of medicine Dr. Jason Mills, welcome aboard and good luck, I and the rest of the team wish you the very best." Although Hazard did not say "Do not fail or else" he implied it with his stony gray eyes, then Colonel calmly concluded "I will call a meeting and you can announce your decision to the others." In Miami, Michael Tritter was analyzing evidence from DNA samples collected from fragments and shards of the machine, he was also typing out reports as he worked through the night, he was determined to get answers to why his cousin died, he was also trying to analyze security camera footage from the scene, he realized that his cousin seemed to be pushed out of the mirror after entering a few minutes earlier in the footage and after Greg flew out of the mirror, the mirror imploded and the footage cut to black. Tritter sighed in frustration and ground his teeth, he wasn't sure but he noticed that Greg never seemed to move much, and he seemed to be bloodied as he lay there. He was aware of a woman who was behind the invention, by this point Tritter didn't care if he frightened her or whatever, he needed answers, as he conducted research and tirelessly took notes on every single shred of evidence and clues he could get his hands on, he typed furiously and circled faces on photographs that seemed to register in his mind as important suspects, then he suddenly mouthed out the words "Anastasia Ivanov" and suddenly he gasped and remembered a quote "If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself" suddenly a migraine struck Tritter, an aftereffect of a head injury sustained by a motorcycle accident from when he was in college, still studying criminology and advanced biology as well as forensics, Tritter studied in Princeton university and often delivered lectures whenever he had time. Tritter wondered what Anastasia was thinking when she built the device, he especially warned her of the dangers of the machine being a physical hazard to others, and he quickly did some research and realized that she was no longer teaching because she was on an indefinite sabbatical due to health reasons, as Tritter wrapped up a third of his research, he gazed outside and realized he had been working all night long as the first rays the sun shone through the hills and buildings in Miami, Tritter rubbed his eyes and put on his metal framed glasses, and then he realized that through his research he realized that perhaps his former advanced physics teacher had been involved in the re-activation of the mirror. Michael then picked up his papers and photographs and shoved them into a briefcase and then walked out of the laboratory and sighed, he wasn't sure but he knew his former teacher was somehow involved in the destruction of the Psych wing and it was because of her machine when it exploded, shooting fragments of glass at Greg, slowly killing him. He found out that the psych patients were evacuated to a nearby hospital, he slowly thought of something but it slipped through his exhausted mind and slowly Tritter drifted into a restless sleep in his apartment. Tritter awoke two hours later and quickly navigated though crowded traffic and before he knew it, he was standing before a mental asylum, the walls were stone gray, it reminded Tritter of the medieval castles especially Castle Garden in New York. As Tritter entered the ward and into Anastasia's ward he reminded himself to speak matter-of-factly and to restrain his emotions at all costs, when he swung the door open, he saw Anastasia sitting on her bed and writing in a notebook, Tritter broke the silence by saying "Hello, I would like to speak to you, my name is Detective Michael Tritter and I represent the FBI, I would like to ask you some questions" Anastasia looked up and sharply inhaled when she saw Tritter, much taller, leaner, stronger, quieter, more serious, and armed heavily to the teeth, she broke down into tears when she remembered that Tritter used to be a goofy, loud and obnoxious teenager in her class but he always blew her away when he solved mock cases that had stumped other students, "It seems you have changed so much Tritter, you were such a loud teenager" Anastasia recalled, she was still trapped in her fond memories of scolding him, she was still in denial that a teenager could dramatically change just like that. Tritter did not feel the same way, he did not care about her emotions or how she felt, he was here for one purpose, to ask why she dared to reactivate the Ersed mirror and to demand answers from her, Tritter was an emotionless robot when it came to cases, it helped him clear his mind and prevent other people's emotions from cluttering his mind, it caused him to be alienated by many people, he was a strict adherer to rules, regulations and laws to the point many casualties would have been prevented if Tritter had not been so hard-headed. Tritter narrowed his eyes and curtly replied "Let's get down to business, I don't have all day you know." Anastasia smiled, although Tritter returned her smile with a stony, remorseless, expressionless stare that said 'You deserve to be where you are, your punishment exactly fits your pettiness, and this imprisonment should teach you a permanent lesson' Tritter whipped out his trusty pen and a legal pad and asked "How did you activate the mirror?" Anastasia simply replied "I was forced to reactivate the mirror against my own willpower, the man threatened to destroy the mirror if I didn't activate it, I knew that the mirror was still ionically unstable, putting it at risk for exploding from overheating" Tritter was suspicious of her response, it seemed hurried and broken as well as incomplete, who was the man who forced her to do this and why? What did she have to do with this man and why did she even reactivate the device even when she knew the risk? How was she able to reassemble the device after it was destroyed? Tritter distrusted her and took note of every response and recorded the conversation so he would be able to transcribe it. As Tritter stood in downtown Miami that evening, he felt as though he were wandering in the forests of the sea bottom, lost in a monstrous world where he himself was the monster. He was alone. The past was dead, the future was unimaginable. The tall skyscrapers loomed above him like gray monsters ready to consume him, even Tritter knew it was hopeless pursuing the case further, as attorneys, and investors passed by him commuting to work, Tritter stood in the middle of the sidewalk while the people passed by him. As the concrete jungle stretched before his eyes, the rain began to drench the pedestrians and Tritter quickly pulled out his clear, plastic poncho and put it over his suit and strode down to the headquarters and began to analyze his new evidence with renewed fury, he poured so much energy and effort into the case that he conveniently forgot he was supposed to bring Anastasia to justice, not take revenge on her, but he knew that she would not be able to stand trial because of her mental state and even if she were to do so, she would enter a "Not guilty under the reason of insanity" plea. Tritter was exhausted, he twirled his fingers and ran his fingers through his gray and white hair, he was after all only two years younger than Jerry and four years younger than Greg. Tritter inherited his electric blue eyes from his father, Jack Tritter, who was a kind, honorable and brave man and his fiery red hair from his mother Amelia Tritter, who was strong, compassionate, and was known for her integrity as well, the only thing that changed for Michael was that his hair grayed until nothing but a thick mop of gray hair remained on his head, his bright blue eyes once had energy and life in them, now they only had a dull remnant in his eyes, he often had a look in his eyes that said that he had seen too many things that he regretted as well as decisions he wished he never made, his eyes often wandered, a habit he had subconsciously developed after he survived an explosion. Tritter didn't care about his physical changes but he truly cared about his family even though he failed to get married or have any children. Suddenly the cellphone shattered his train of thoughts and picked it up and realized it was Dr. Jason Mills, Dean of medicine on the other end, Mills spoke by saying "I know it's late, but we need to talk, it is important that you listen to what I am saying now, I might have some information leading up to your investigation." Tritter was shocked that Jason knew what he was doing, was he spying on Tritter? Jason continued by saying "The day Greg left for Miami, he spoke of leaving because of an emergency, he did not say what it was or why he needed to tend to it, but I think this might be important evidence for you to look at." Tritter dismissed this piece of evidence and hung up and leaned on his swivel chair, the white board in front of him was covered in photographs, newspaper clippings, and maps, some were circled in red permanent marker and others had writing on them. Tritter took a deep breath and then decided to take a step back and suddenly the red lines seemed to intertwine and connect until the bold word stood out against all of the jumbled lines, the word struck horror and newfound respect for his cousin, Tritter fell on his knees and whispered "Doomsday" over and over and rekindled his anger, his wrath against his teacher and cried out tears of horror and sadness, his voice once stoic was now filled with grief. The next day Tritter returned to the mental asylum where Anastasia and glared at her with absolute murderous contempt, he then boomed "Do you what you did when you reactivated that device! You almost ended the world! My cousin is dead because of you, if you had not activated the device, Greg would still be alive and would be at work in Seattle helping his patients! Now because of you my heart is a little emptier and my days are more painful to live without my cousin! Our relationship was strong and was that of like as if we were brothers! In fact you jeopardized the existence of humanity when creating this device, did you ever consider that at all in any way whatsoever? Has it even occurred to you that there are shadow extremist networks that would love to get their hands on the device and alter history as we know it?" Anastasia's tears were flowing down like rivers as she was cornered, she wanted his rant to end and for him to leave and then suddenly Tritter shouted "I will sue you, believe it! I will make sure that you never see another window sans bars for the rest of your days" suddenly it was all too much for her fragile mind as she burst out "I'M UNDER HOUSE ARREST FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?" Anastasia cried her eyes out as Tritter was manhandled by the guards out of the room but not before letting loose a parting shot "I HOPE YOU DIE IN THIS HELLHOLE FOR ALL YOU'RE WORTH, YOU PIECE OF CRAP, I AM NOT HAPPY, I AM OVERJOYED TO SEE YOU SHACKLED TO THAT WALL FOR THE REST OF YOUR FILTHY DAYS!" Soon Tritter was dragged out by security as he screamed obscenities at Anastasia that began to antagonize the other insane patients and soon he was told to never visit Anastasia because he had caused a severe disruption through the asylum, personally Tritter didn't care about any of the restrictions levied against him. In the chaos, Tritter picked up Anastasia's medical files and snuck it into his briefcase and quickly hid it underneath a stack of files, before anyone could begin searching for the papers; Tritter was already gone and was analyzing her papers based on her medical history, he knew it was illegal to have such papers in his possession so he pulled a few connections and tricked Anastasia into surrendering her medical records and files to Tritter without her knowing it by using a subpoena to his advantage. Tritter read that she had an IQ of 306, in comparison, Albert Einstein had a tiny fraction of an IQ score in comparison, Tritter read through her files and found that she had been diagnosed with negative schizophrenia and as a result, she had auditory hallucinations and she would have frequent mood swings as noted in her files that had been recorded by her psycatrist and her counselor that had tried to treat her, he saw the list of medicines that had been prescribed to her to lessen her mood swing and to calm her hyperactive mind, Tritter knew it was still useless to pursue the case further so he snapped the folder shut and tossed it aside in frustration, the papers scattered across the floor. Through Tritter's life, death had defined his life, he watched his partner sacrifice himself so that the rest of his squad would live, years later, Tritter was involved in an explosion that killed several civilians and police officers and would leave behind a very traumatized Tritter, Tritter's scars from Gregory's death had still not healed even after two months since his funeral, Tritter knew he was alone, the past was dead, the future was unimaginable.


End file.
